Eleventh Commandment
by Empress Xandra
Summary: The Sequel to "How You Remind Me". SLASH. Rad's father is out of jail and headed for High Desert.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Shad and technically I got his name of a street sign in Leonardtown.

AN:Rad and his brother are close, but not _that_ close. They share purely brotherly affection.

Chapter 1

Shadrach White sat quietly in the dark, watching his baby brother sleep. He should probably be asleep in the Bailey's guestroom himself, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave his brother's side. Not yet anyway.

When the Baileys called him a few days ago to tell him that Rad was missing he felt like the ground fell out from under him. His baby brother was his whole world; had been since he was old enough to realize his parents weren't worth a damn and that Bradley would die of neglect if he didn't step up and take care of him.

Now he just needed to be reassured of his brother's presence.

Shad ran a hand through his own blonde hair, a feature he and Rad had inherited from their father, along with their blue eyes. Luckily that was where the resemblance ended.

Shad frowned when he heard his little brother whimper in his sleep. A nightmare most likely. Rad had had those all the time when they were still with their father. Hopefully this one wouldn't be as bad as some he'd had before.

* * *

"_Stop!" Rad tried to yell, but his father's arm was wrapped too tightly around his chest. So he was forced to watch helplessly as the police shoved Shad into the back of their cruiser. This couldn't be happening. Shad promised that Daddy wouldn't find them. He promised him that they were safe from **him**._

"_Shad," was all Rad managed to whisper out as he watched the police car pull away._

_Suddenly the scene changed and he was standing the middle of a dark room. He felt his father standing behind him. Then he heard that cruel voice in his ear._

"_Let this be a lesson boy. Never run from me!" his father hissed.

* * *

_

Rad woke up to his brother shaking him. It took a moment for him to realize where he was. 'Another nightmare' he thought.

"You ok okay baby bro?" Shad asked. Rad nodded. A moment of silence followed.

Shad finally broke it. "What was this one about?"

"When Dad found us in that roach motel in Phoenix," Rad sighed. That had been the first night they'd ever spent apart since Rad was born.

"Don't worry Bro. He's never gonna be able to do that to us again," Shad promised pulling Rad into a hug. Pulling back he asked "You going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Rad said. He reached out to grab his brother's arm when Shad got up to leave. "But … could you stay with me? Just in case?" he asked. Their parents hadn't been big on spending money "needlessly" so Rad had never had his own bed. For as long as he could remember he'd shared a bed with Shad. But that had ended when Rad was placed with the Baileys.

"Ok," Shad smiled climbing into bed. Things hadn't changed that much. If this made Rad feel safe then he had no problem with staying for the night.

Shad smiled when he felt Rad snuggle into his chest and drift off to sleep. He wrapped an arm around his brother holding him close. Nothing would get to his little brother while he was around.

* * *

"Ooooh," Sideswipe giggled watching the falling stars. He probably should have still been resting. He had after all had a rough couple of days, with his abusive ex showing up, his human friend getting kidnapped, thinking Hot Shot and Sunny were dead, and getting kidnapped himself. But he'd been waiting for this meteor shower for weeks and damned if he was going to let Spindle's attack ruin it for him. Hell if Rad's foster parents weren't being so protective right now the boy would probably be out here watching too.

"Are you sure you don't need to be resting?" Blurr asked from his spot next to him.

Sideswipe met Blurr's concerned look with one of amusement. "I can rest after the shower ends Blurr. Besides, I've been resting since I got out of the infirmary this afternoon," he complained.

"You were kidnapped today Sideswipe."

"He only had me for a few hours Blurr. If anybody need a good week of R&R it's Rad," Sideswipe pointed out.

"Sideswipe--"

Sideswipe laid his head on Blurr's shoulder and looked innocently up into his loves optics. "I'm fine as long as I'm with you," Sideswipe whispered softly.

Blurr smiled underneath his battle mask. He wrapped an arm around Sideswipe's shoulder pulling him closer.

* * *

Carlos was tossing and turning. He just couldn't get to sleep.

When Rad went missing he swore to himself that if he ever saw him again he'd tell him how he really felt. And then he'd lost his nerve when Rad was rescued. The story of his life.

Four years ago he met Rad when the blonde boy moved in with the Baileys. Rad had been on the swing on the Baileys' back porch and Carlos had been bringing back the book his mom had borrowed from Mrs. Bailey.

* * *

_The new boy was sitting on the back porch just staring out into space. He was the first boy the Baileys had brought home in a long time. They'd had others but they never stayed very long. But his mom said this one was staying for a few years, maybe even until he became an adult. _

"_Hi," Carlos has greeted cautiously, remembering that most of the Baileys' boys were easily startled. This boy wasn't, he just slowly turned his head and met Carlos' gaze with almost lifeless blue eyes. _

"_Hi," the boy had answered._

"_What's your name?" Carlos had asked._

"_Bradley Rad White," Rad had answered._

"_I'm Carlos Lopez," Carlos had stuck out his hand to shake. Rad had stared at him strangely. "You're supposed to shake it."_

"_That's what dad did when he was sealing a deal" Rad had said with distain._

"_Was he a salesman?"_

"_If you count selling coke and weed to stupid teenagers, then yeah. He's in jail now." _

"_Oh…do you miss him?"_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_He's an asshole." _

_Carlos had blinked at the use of language. He'd never heard a kid talk like that. Only grownups were supposed to cuss, not kids._

"_You said a bad word!"_

"_Did not. I was using it as an adjective."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Never mind," Rad had turned his attention back to the sky then ignoring Carlos._

"_What's wrong with your arm?" Carlos had asked noticing that the boy held it strangely at his side._

"_Nothing's wrong with my arm," Rad had growled._

"_But—"_

"_Nothing's wrong!" Rad had yelled before getting up and running inside._

_Carlos had understood then that someone had hurt Rad. Mr. Bailey had told him that the kids he and his wife took care of were from households where their mommys and daddys hurt them.

* * *

_

Their first meeting had hardly been the expected start to such a strong friendship but it was. They'd grown close. So close it was only logical that deeper feelings developed in at least one of them.

But Carlos doubted Rad would ever see him as anything other than a friend.

AN: R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Once again Rad and his brother's relationship is purely platonic, the sharing a bed thing is kind of a sibling thing.

**WARNING: SLASH!**

Chapter 2

Rad could see the sky changing colors through his bedroom window. He'd made a habit of waking up at the same time as the Baileys left for work so he could watch the sunrise. Despite everything that had happened the last few days the Baileys still couldn't miss work. So they had left half an hour before, trusting Shad to take care of him.

"Ug," Shad groaned waking up. "What time is it?"

"Around five-thirty," Rad answered.

"It's too damn early," Shad groaned rolling over to try and find a little warmth. "Why are we awake right now?"

"I'm awake because I like to watch the sunrise. You're awake because I'm not in the bed keeping you warm," Rad told him with a teasing grin.

"Whatever. Don't you have a heater in this room," Shad grumbled. He could never sleep if he were the slightest bit chilly.

"Bro. This is the desert. It only gets cold after dark and by then I'm buried under the covers," Rad laughed.

"Fine, then get back over here and keep me warm damnit," Shad growled.

"Nope, it's time for breakfast," Rad laughed heading out to go to the kitchen.

"Ugh…Weren't you just in a cave-in?" Shad asked, still amazed at how quickly his baby brother recovered from what should have been a traumatic experience.

"Yeah. With no food for two days, so I think it's understandable that I'm a little hungry," Rad called back from down the hall.

Shad groaned before pulling himself up out of the bed.

* * *

"Why do I always have to cook?" Shad grumbled.

"Because you're older and make the best pancakes ever," Rad smiled. His brother just snorted.

"So, how are things in Vegas?" Rad asked purely to keep the conversation going.

"Alright I guess. Tony and I are looking into getting a bigger apartment. Maybe a two bedroom," Shad's tone dropped noticeably on his last sentence.

"Really? Why do you need a two bedroom?" Obviously his brother and Tony wouldn't be having any children, which was the only reason Rad could think of for the second bedroom. Well, unless Tony and Shad were moving into separate rooms, which was very unlikely.

Shad turned off the stove and turned to face his younger brother. "Well, I'm twenty-two now, with steady employment and hopefully soon a decent size apartment. The courts might take me a little more serious than when Dad went to jail."

Rad blinked. Shad was asking him to move in with him. Could they honestly do that? Sure Shad was older now and financially stable, but he had a live in boyfriend. If the judge wasn't accepting of homosexual life styles there would be no chance of him being placed with Shad.

"Nothings really set yet so you have a while before you have to decide. I know you're pretty settled here and have friends. But I can actually take care of you now, like I promised," Shad said, whispering the last few words before looking away.

Rad didn't know what he would have said if the telephone hadn't chosen to ring at that moment. After the third ring Shad asked if Rad was going to answer it.

"Nah. If it's important they'll leave a message," Rad answered.

"Alright," Shad said turning back to the now charred pancakes.

On the sixth ring the answering machine picked up. "Hey Mike, this is Tom. Just calling to let you know there was a breakout in Nevada last night, so be careful. Call me back."

Rad had just taken a glass out of the cabinet when the message finished. The glass shattered on the floor.

* * *

Carlos was just about to knock on the back door when he heard something that sounded like glass shattering inside. He pushed the door open and hurried in.

"Hello," He called down the hallway. He heard some strange voices coming from the kitchen. "Rad?"

"Breathe, just breathe, it's gonna be ok," someone was whispering.

Carlos headed toward the kitchen. Once there he found Rad standing near the counter having a panic attack with some other blonde holding onto his shoulders whispering calming words.

"Hello?" Carlos asked confused.

The strange blonde looked up at him suspiciously. "This isn't a good time," he said.

"He's out. He escaped," Rad gasped between breaths.

"We don't that for sure," the blonde man said turning his attention back to Rad, having already dismissed Carlos.

"Is there anyone else that Tom would call to warn Mr. Bailey about that was in prison in Nevada!" Rad asked.

"Your dad?" Carlos realized. Rad nodded.

"He broke out last night," Rad said calming down a little.

"He not might have—" the blonde man said.

"Call Tom back and ask if you're not sure," Rad snapped. The blonde man hesitated but then grabbed the phone.

"You ok Rad?" Carlos asked moving to his friend's side and wrapping an arm around him.

"Other than feeling like I'm gonna puke? Just peachy," Rad said leaning against Carlos. Carlos blushed slightly but didn't move away. Though from the look the blonde man was giving him he probably should have.

"Uhh… Maybe you should sit down," Carlos suggested turning his head at the same time as Rad causing their noses to brush up against each other. Carlos blushed even deeper before pulling away.

'Damnit Carlos, he's having a panic attack and all you can think about is if your faces had been an inch closer' he mentally scolded himself.

"Hey Tom," the blonde man said into the phone. "I don't suppose there is anything going on with Dad that Rad and I should know about?"

So this was Shad, Rad's older brother. That would explain why he was here. He must have come when Rad went missing.

"He got out! How the hell did he manage that!? He's supposed to be under maximum security!" Shad yelled into the phone.

"Oh god," Rad gasped, taking deep breaths again.

"Shit. I got to go Tom. I'll call back," Shad said hanging up. "Rad don't worry, we'll fix this."

"How? He's out. There's nothing we can do about that," Rad said leaning on Carlos again, completely unaware of his brother's deepening scowl.

"No there's not. But we can keep you safe until they recapture him."

"Which could be never," Rad threw back.

* * *

Sideswipe rolled over quietly in his recharge berth. Last night had been a late night and it was still early, but he didn't feel like lounging around all day even if those were Red Alerts orders. After the meteor shower ended, Blurr had walked him back to his quarters…or at least tried to since Hot Shot had been waiting at the door with his rifle ready just incase Blurr had any thoughts about staying the night.

Sideswipe snuck quietly off of his recharge berth. Hot Shot wouldn't be happy if he caught Sideswipe up and about.

"Don't even think about it," Sunstreaker hissed from the spare recharge berth set up in the corner.

'Slagging over protective brothers' he thought to himself.

"I'm just going to the supply room for a snack," Sideswipe said.

"Really? So Blurr wasn't just going to just to happen to meet you along the way and then sneak off with you to that ridge you're both so fond of," Sunstreaker questioned rhetorically.

"You followed us last night?!" Sideswipe asked, shocked.

"Slagging right I followed you. You've been assaulted primus only knows how many times in the past few days and the moment you're finally safe you run off to be alone with your new mech-friend. What the slag am I supposed to do, sit back while this new dumbass could be taking advantage of you? I don't think so little brother," Sunstreaker scoffed.

"Would you stop acting like it's your job to protect me, I was only five seconds behind you coming online," Sideswipe griped.

"What are you two fussing about now?" Hot Shot groaned as he slowly came out of recharge.

"Not that it is any concern of yours but my idiotic younger brother was trying to sneak out to see that Blurr character," Sunstreaker let slip, quite purposely, judging by the smirk on his face.

"What! Sideswipe, you shouldn't be jumping into another relationship right after Spindle. Your not in any condition to be choosing wisely--"

While Hot Shot continued his tirade Sideswipe settled for glaring at his twin.

* * *

Damn he hated roach motels. Dirty dingy walls, bug infested beds, the sent of sweat and other bodily fluids. It reminded him of prison.

Four years he'd spent in prison. All because of that little brat. That whiney little snitch would get what was coming to him very soon. Compared to what was coming, that night in Phoenix would seem like a smack on the wrist.

AN: R&R.

Ceidre: Once again that sucked.

Xandra: (shaking her head in disbelief) Why have I not killed you yet?

Ceidre: (smirking) Because I keep Randy company.

Xandra: Really? Last I checked he was a man of his word, and a while ago he said something along the lines of "I promise to love, honor, and cherish you, Xandra, until death do us part" And death ain't parted us yet bitch!

Ceidre: Hmmm…

Arsenic: You know she's just going to try and kill now, right?

Xandra: If she does it'll give me a good reason to sic the Enforcer on her.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Thinking of writing a fic about how Blurr and Sideswipe got together in the first place. Anybody want to see it?

Chapter Three

Once Rad had stopped shaking Shad decided to have him and Carlos go sit in the living room while he called the Bailey's to give them the update. Predictably Mrs. Bailey insisted on coming home, and while Mr. Bailey wanted to come home too he couldn't get away unless Rad was hurt or in the hospital.

After being assured that Mrs. Bailey would be home within the hour, Shad hung up and headed out to the living room. Mentally he prepared himself to comfort his distraught baby brother. He needn't have bothered. Rad was sitting calmly next to Carlos on the couch.

Shad didn't even try to hide his smile. His baby brother was strong. He wasn't going to fall to pieces over this. Even if it was their worst nightmare come to life.

* * *

"Stupid over protective big brothers," Sideswipe grumbled. He was slouched down between Hot Shot and Sunny on the Rec Room couch. The two of them were refusing to let him out of their sight because they were convinced Blurr would seduce him the minute they turned their backs.

"This is for your own good," Sunstreaker stated. "Now sit up straight, slouching is bad for your back."

"Yes mother," Sideswipe snapped.

"Don't get snippy with me."

"This coming from the king of snippiness."

"This is for the best Sideswipe," Hot Shot tried to reason. "It's not healthy to jump into a relationship so soon after you got out of an abusive one."

"Spindle and I have been over for years," Sideswipe argued.

"But he did just come after you again," Hot Shot pointed out.

"Yeah but I was with Blurr before that happened."

"Huh?"

"We kind of didn't want to tell you because we thought you'd do something crazy like try to kill him."

"You got together with Blurr even after he treated you the way he did when you first got here?" Hot Shot asked, incredulous.

"Umm, actually…"

"Sideswipe, please tell me you weren't together before you got here."

"Well…"

"Sideswipe."

"You said--"

"When did you and Blurr get together?!"

"Remember how he cut me down from those wires?"

"What wires?" Sunstreaker popped up.

"Nothing Sunny."

"You said Blurr was gone before you got yourself untangled."

"He was, but I found him at a near by trading post. Since I got separated from my unit he said I could stick with him for a while."

"You were separated from your unit?" Sunstreaker asked, beginning to wonder just what he got his baby brother into when he signed him up for a tour of duty with the Autobots.

"Relax Sunny."

"But Blurr treated you like crap when you first got here," Hot Shot one track mind wasn't deterred from it's current thread.

"He didn't want me to come here. He thought it was too dangerous for me since I hadn't received any formal training yet. He just was scared that I'd get hurt."

"He acted like he didn't even know you!"

"He was really surprised to see me."

"He didn't know who you were!"

"He was angry. I was supposed to stay on Sirius."

"He sounds like a jerk to me," Sunstreaker stated.

"You two are just being overprotective."

"One more thing," Hot Shot demanded. "If Blurr was so angry at you for coming here, why'd he forgive and forget so quickly?"

"He's had months to get over it, Hot Shot. Nobody holds a grudge that long," Sideswipe pointed out.

"Hah, even I noticed that he thawed a little toward you after the first week," Hot Shot snorted.

"Well…" Sideswipe really didn't want to bring this part up.

"Well what?" Hot Shot asked.

"Remember when Blurr caught us hugging?"

"Yes. Wait a minute! You used me to make your mech-friend jealous?!"

"No, of course not… Well actually, yes I did," Sideswipe admitted

"… I feel so… used."

* * *

"So, maybe we should head to the base," Carlos suggested once he was sure Shad was out of earshot.

"I can't," Rad sighed.

"Why not? You'll be safer at the base then you will be here," Carlos pointed out.

"Try telling my brother and the Baileys that. Shad's not going to let me out of his sight for a minute," Rad explained. "Besides, what would I tell the Autobots? Other than Sideswipe none of them know anything about my father."

"They know he was in jail," Carlos admitted.

"What? How? Oh no. Carlos you didn't," Rad's tone took on a pleading quality to it.

"You were missing Rad, and we were all out of leads. We needed to rule out every possibility before we gave up hope," Carlos said quietly hoping Rad wouldn't be too angry.

"What all did you tell them?"

"Only that he was in jail in Nevada. I didn't tell them anything else I swear."

"Oh god. Damnit."

"Rad, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah your dad was a first class jackass, but you were strong enough to get away from him. You're free man," Carlos tried to reassure him.

Rad just shook his head sadly. His friend meant well but his words cut deep. Carlos didn't know about that night in Phoenix.

* * *

"_Say it brat! Say it!" Jason White ordered twisting his son's arm to an unnatural angle._

"_Stop, you're hurting me!" Rad cried. _

"_You say it or you'll hurt a lot worse," he growled, twisting even harder._

"_Please stop." Rad was crying now._

"_Stop crying boy and say it," the man demanded._

"_Please Daddy," Rad begged. His father's only response was to twist harder until there was pop as Rad's shoulder was pulled out of it's socket. _

_Jason White released his son's arm. "Now what do you say boy?"_

"_I'm sorry Daddy. I'll never run again, I promise," Rad cried._

"_Good, now sit up straight and let me fix that arm."

* * *

_

It had taken his father an hour to get to relocate Rad's shoulder. It had hurt worse to fix his arm than it had to mess it up.

That night was one of his worst memories of his father and it wasn't just because of the pain. When they left New York Rad had promised his brother that he'd never let his father control him again. He'd sworn that no matter what he'd never give in to the old bastard. And that night in Phoenix he'd begged and pleaded for mercy before finally giving his father what he wanted. It had taken him another few days after that for him to find his courage and tell the cops the truth. It had been worth a the fear and pain to see the look on Jason White's face when he realized his mouse of a son had ratted him out. It had been even better when the cops found a few pounds of weed in the trunk of his car.

AN: Technically it was Sideswipe that spilled the beans about Rad's father in "How You Remind Me" but Carlos really didn't think it was a good idea to tell Rad that at that moment.

Ceidre: Still sucks

Xandra: Still waiting for you to die.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: I would have had this up sooner but it took a two whole week just for the revisions.

Chapter 4

"How is he?"

Shad looked up from his spot at the kitchen table to see Mrs. Bailey standing at the door. He hadn't heard her car pull up. He'd been too lost in his own thoughts and memories.

"He's holding up Mrs. B. I'm not sure how well, but he is holding up."

Hannah Bailey was pushing fifty, but usually bore her age well. Today though, the fine lines around her eyes were clearly visible. Her cheeks were sunken, giving her a slightly gaunt look. There was a weariness in her eyes that reminded Shad that she hadn't slept the past few nights while Rad was missing, though he doubted a full nights sleep would ease it completely.

"Well, that's better than I expected. Where is he now?" Mrs. Bailey asked, taking a seat at the table.

"He and Carlos went up to his room about an hour ago."

Mrs. Bailey nodded. "Carlos is here, good. Rad's going to need a friend to lean on while we take care of this mess with your father."

"Sure, and Carlos is more than happy to let Rad 'lean' on him," Shad snorted ruefully.

"Don't be so cynical Shadrach. While I don't deny that Carlos does seem to have a little crush on your brother, I doubt he'll try to take advantage of the situation. He values their friendship too much for that."

"I had a few friends like that back in New York. Didn't stay friends with them to long either."

"Those are called fair-weather friends Shad. There's always at least one of your friends that's going to be like that. But Carlos isn't like that, at least not with your brother."

"Everyone, given the right circumstance, has the potential to be an asshole. And I'll be damned if I trust some stranger with Rad's well being."

"Hmm. And yet I notice that they are upstairs alone while you're down here talking to me," Mrs. Bailey pointed out. In response Shad held up a small, colorful plastic device.

"You're spying on Rad with a baby monitor?" Mrs. Bailey asked in disbelief.

"No. I'm just using a baby monitor to check up on Rad in case he has another panic attack. If I just so happen to overhear Carlos attempting to put the moves on him, well that's just an added bonus," Shad grinned.

"There's just one problem with that scenario, deary," Mrs. Bailey said with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"What?"

"That particular baby monitor goes two ways."

"…Oh," Shad blinked. "…Shit"

The monitor crackled to life as its mate flew out of Rad's second story window and shattered on the Bailey's back patio.

"I do think he's a little angry," Mrs. Bailey chuckled.

* * *

"Sorry about that Carlos," Rad said after slamming his bedroom window shut.

"Don't worry about it man. You forget, I have older brothers too. This is how they let you know that they care," Carlos said while fighting down a blush. He hadn't thought he was being that obvious about his feelings towards Rad, but if Shad had already figured it out then maybe Rad knew too. No, if Rad knew he wouldn't have invited him up to his room.

"Shad cares a little too much if you ask me," Rad grumbled more to him self than to anyone else.

"Tell me about it," A voice piped up from inside Rad's pocket.

"Is everyone spying on me today?" Rad asked, pulling Lazerbeak out of his pocket.

"It's only because we care," Sideswipe quipped over the comm-link

"Care less," Rad advised.

"But we love you," Sideswipe whined. "Don't we Blurr?"

"Yeah, yeah. The kid's fine, can we go now?" Blurr's voice joined Sideswipe's over the link.

"You two sneaking out again?" Rad asked.

"Have too. My older brothers don't approve of me dating. You think your brother's bad, try having two highly skilled warriors defending your 'virtue', then we'll talk," Sideswipe huffed.

"Speaking of highly trained warriors, they'll be looking for us soon, and Sunstreaker's already threatened to disembowel me if he caught me with in twenty yards of you again," Blurr spoke up to hurry Sideswipe along.

"You're honestly afraid of my twin? He's as short as I am."

"Hey, I was up there. I saw what he did to Spindle's crew. No way am I getting him pissed off at me"

"He can't get pissed off by what he doesn't know."

"So let's go now before he manages to track us down, because to be quite honest I like having my internal systems on the inside."

"But I have to ask Rad if he's ok."

"Then do it."

"Ok. Rad, are you ok?"

"I'm fine Sideswipe," Rad assured his friend, glad the Autobot couldn't see his face. A moment later he realized it didn't matter that Sideswipe couldn't see his face, the mech knew anyway.

"Rad… are you lying?"

"Of course not," Rad tried to sound confident.

"Really? Carlos, is Rad's left eyebrow twitching?" Sideswipe asked.

"Uhh… yeah… it is," Carlos answered slowly, wondering how Sideswipe had known.

On the other end of the line Blurr saw Sideswipe's face harden. "What happened?" Sideswipe demanded.

"Nothing!" Rad snapped. Silence followed.

"We'll be over in a few minutes. Meet us in the woods behind your house," Sideswipe ended the conversation with a click.

* * *

"What's with the eyebrow thing?" Blurr asked.

Sideswipe's face finally softened. "It's Rad's tic," he said.

"Tic?"

"It's like a muscle spasm that occurs when a human is nervous. Rad's nervous tic is his eyebrow twitch. It happens everytime he lies," Sideswipe answered tightly. He wasn't use to Rad lying to him. It hurt.

"How do you know that?" Blurr asked.

"Simple, I caught him in a lie."

* * *

_It was supposed to be a safe mission. Safe enough that Optimus agreed to let the kids come along. Missions like that were few and far between since the war on Earth had begun to escalate in the previous months._

_The Minicon alarm had gone off, leading the Autobots and their human friends to some place the humans called Egypt. They followed the signal to an underground labyrinth under some statue that the kids had called a Sphinx. The labyrinth had been too large for them to search together so Optimus had ordered them split up into groups of twos. Hot Shot and Sideswipe had been paired together, as always. But this time, since they had the kids with them, three of the groups took one of the kids with them. Jetfire and Red Alert took Carlos. Smokescreen and Blurr took Alexis. He and Hot Shot took Rad and Highwire. They'd both agreed with no complaint. After all Hot Shot had known and been friends with Rad from the beginning, and Sideswipe, still being new to Earth, found the humans interesting._

_They'd explored their assigned section of the maze for about an hour with no sign of the Minicon or the Decepticons. Half way through the first twenty minutes Hot Shot had started grumbling about how they weren't to see any action on this mission. Despite his bro's complaints Sideswipe had been able to see Hot Shot wasn't really all that upset about their lack of action. Who in their right mind would want to go up against the Decepticons with only an untrained rookie, a Minicon, and a human child for back up? The four of them would have been content to pass the whole mission with out running into a single Decepticon. Unfortunately their luck hadn't held out._

_They'd come upon a fork in the maze where it split off into four directions. Since their orders were to stick together they could only take one path and none of them had been able to agree on which path should take. Well he guessed that they'd all disagreed. At the time he was still relying on Hot Shot to translate what Highwire was saying. Because they were arguing they didn't hear the approaching footsteps until Cyclonus had opened fire on them. Before he and Hot Shot had been able to draw their own weapons a stray shot from Cyclonus' gun had hit the ceiling above their heads, bringing an avalanche of rubble down on them. Hot Shot and Highwire were forced to take shelter in the pathway closest to them. Sideswipe, being too far away from that path, had pulled Rad into another one that was closer. When the cave-in stopped he and Rad had been trapped; their pathway lead to one of the labyrinth's many dead ends._

_Not only were they trapped, separated from their friends, and had what Sideswipe guessed was a limited supply of oxygen; but when the roof was caving in Rad had been hit in the back by a sharp shard of rock, leaving him with a fairly large gash running from his left shoulder to his right hip._

_The cut hadn't been very deep but it still worried Sideswipe. His knowledge of human physiology wasn't that extensive but he understood about infections._

_"I'm fine. Now leave me alone!" Rad had yelled, his eyebrow twitching. _

_"You're bleeding," Sideswipe had pointed out._

_"So?"_

_"When a human bleeds it's a sign that they're not 'fine'." _

_"Well there's nothing we can do about it right now."_

_"You have a canteen right? We can use the water wash out the cut." _

_"Yeah, but we don't know how long we'll be down here. I'll live longer with an infection than I will without water."_

_They'd argued like that for another half hour before Rad finally agreed to let Sideswipe try to clean out the wound._

_"Just make sure you don't crush the canteen or spill it all. I still need to drink," Rad had warned, grudgingly handing over his canteen._

_"Don't worry."_

_They'd sat for a minute._

_"Well?" Rad had asked._

_"Shouldn't you take your shirt off? It'll be easier to clean the cut without the cloth getting in the way?" _

_Rad had looked like he was going to refuse for a minute but gave in and removed his Autobot sweater, blue over-shirt, and finally his white t-shirt. The scars that littered Rad's torso had surprised Sideswipe, but he didn't comment on them until after he was finished cleaning Rad's injury._

_He probably could have phrased his question a little better. "Who beat you?" had just made Rad freeze with his blue over-shirt only half way on. _

_"What?"_

_"Who beat you?"_

_"What makes you think anyone ever beat me?" _

_"Your scars."_

_"It's nothing," That was the second time Sideswipe notice Rad's eyebrow twitch. _

_"Then why do you have so many scars?"_

_"I'm clumsy." Another twitch. _

_"Clumsy, huh? That the same excuse I use to use," That had gotten Rad's undivided attention. _

_"You… you… were…"_

_"Abused? Yeah, back on Cybertron. This crazy jerk I hung out with would smack me around."_

_"Why?"_

_"He was a possessive jerk"_

_"And…nobody noticed?"_

_"Well unlike you, I actually am pretty clumsy to begin with so most people tend to believed me if I tell them I ran into something, or fell down the stairs. Everyone except Sunny anyway. He's the one who figured it out and got me off Cybertron," Sideswipe had tried to smile reassuringly but Rad tensed up even more. Then something had occurred to him. _

_"Rad, is someone still abusing you?"_

_"No!" There was no twitch with this declaration. "It stopped years ago. My… my dad's in jail now. Thanks to my brother…"

* * *

_

That had been the start of their friendship, built on their understanding of each other's circumstances. It helped to have someone to talk to who knew exactly what you were going through. When the nightmares got bad, or something set off old fears they had always been able let it all out to each other.

But now Rad was lying to him and trying to shut him out. Why? The last few days had been rough on them all. Maybe that had triggered some flashbacks or night terrors. But Rad had those frequently and never acted like this. Primus, he hoped it didn't have anything to do with Rad's father.

* * *

Neither of them had moved since Sideswipe had shut off the link.

Carlos asked the necessary question "So, are we going?"

Rad sighed. "If we don't Sideswipe's likely to show up at my front door and give my brother and Mrs. Bailey a heart attack."

"Will Shad and Mrs. Bailey let us go?"

"Most likely not."

"So, we're going down the trellis?"

"Yup, just like old times," Rad had to smile. The trellis had been his way of escaping. If he wanted to see Carlos after the sun went down and the Baileys had already put him to bed, he would sneak out into the hall and climb out the window at the top of the stairs. There was a trellis that stood right next to the window. Back in the good old days it had been covered in thorny roses, which might have been to discourage the Bailey's foster kids from sneaking out. Rad didn't know if it worked on the kids before him but it hadn't worked on him. He'd hid Mrs. Bailey's extra gardening gloves in his room so he could use them to protect his hands.

Lucky for them, two years ago the roses had been killed by some sort of parasite and Mrs. Bailey had replaced them with Morning Glories.

* * *

Minutes later Shad was standing at the kitchen sink, washing the breakfast dishes. He might be a grown man but somehow Mrs. Bailey managed to make him feel child who was being punished. He was sure that the only reason she was making him do the dishes was because he'd been spying on his little brother rather than simply trusting Rad's good judgment. Like doubting Rad's judgment was such a crime.

Especially when the doubt was well earned. From the kitchen window he could see Rad and Carlos were sneaking off behind the Bailey's fence and heading for the woods.

"Damnit," he cursed throwing down the dishtowel before hurrying for the back door to follow them.

AN: R&R

Arsenic: How could Sideswipe clean out a wound on a teenage human's back? The size difference should make that impossible.

Xandra: He pretty much just poured water over it until it looked clean.

Brigg: Why did the Baileys have a baby monitor?

Xandra: They're Foster parents. They had to have fostered a baby at one time or another.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: High school graduate, new laptop. Life is good.

Chapter 5

Suburbia. Manicured lawns, tiny ass twigs that passed for trees, houses that looked like they came out of a Cracker Jack box. Happy little families where the moms and dads worked nine to five and sat down to dinner every night with their 2.3 children.

It made him sick. Just a bunch of people who had never known a day of hardship, all living it up because they came from money. They never went hungry, never had to kill someone with their dead brother's switchblade just so they had a dry place to sleep. His son might be a whiney snitch, but at least he knew pain. He'd known hardship. He'd gone hungry and never complained. Bradley had known how to survive.

In an odd way he was kind of proud of the brat. He'd sold his own father out to survive. That took guts. Jason White would have done the same to his father if the chance had presented itself.

But that wouldn't stop him from punishing Bradley for it. If he'd sold his father out, Alexander White would have killed him for it. And he'd always followed his Dad's example. It kept him alive this long, no sense in changing now.

Plus, prison sucked. And Bradley was responsible for that little learning experience. Man, he couldn't wait to get that brat alone. He could already feel his son's neck snapping in his hands… No, wait, that was the steering wheel. Shit, now how was he supposed steer this hunk of crap? Maybe he should stop the car before he hit something.

Crunch. Too late.

* * *

There was a well-traveled path through the woods. As kids, well younger kids anyway, Rad and Carlos had torn down it on hot summer days in nothing but their swimming trunks to go splash in the meager stream that ran through the center of the woods. They always came home soaked and muddy, causing Mrs. Lopez no end of grief with their laundry.

Once Rad had stepped on a piece of broken glass that had been hidden by the muddy water and laid open the skin of his heel. Another time Carlos had been swinging from a branch and accidentally let go and broke his leg. Rad remembered how tired he had been after carrying Carlos home, neither wanting to risk their parents' wrath, the stream having been off limits since Rad had broken his wrist doing the exact same thing. They managed to convince the Lopez's that Carlos had fallen off his skateboard attempting a 50/50 grind.

They wouldn't be going anywhere near the stream today. Sideswipe would meet them in the clearing with the old tire swing that Rad nearly broke his neck on when he was nine.

He'd been knocked out for a little while and woke up to Carlos trying to give him mouth to mouth. One day he was going to get Carlos to explain just how CPR could treat a concussion. That ought to get a blush out of him.

* * *

Where the hell were they going? Shad had expected them to head to one of the neighboring house, one of which was presumably where Carlos lived. But Rad and his friend were heading steadily further into the woods.

And since when did a small town park in the middle of the desert have such thick foliage? This was a park right?

No it wasn't. Rad had said that the park was on the other side of town. So this was just a regular forest. No landscapers to keep back the branches and briars. The only reason Rad and Carlos were moving so fast was that they were smaller and could duck under the overhanging branches easier.

Hmm. It looked like the trail widened up ahead. Rad and Carlos were already entering the clearing. He could see a tree with a tire swing. That looked like where the boys were headed.

Shad didn't bother to fight down the irritation. His brother had snuck out of the house when he knew their father was on the loose just to go hang with some guy at the hot makeout spot. Damnit, Rad was too young for this shit. And he was supposed to be the straight one. Shad wanted nieces and nephews to spoil.

Huh? That was odd. Carlos was taking a seat at the base of the tree and Rad was climbing into the tire swing. They looked like they were settling down to wait rather than--Was he complaining that his brother hadn't come out here to makeout?

His curiosity aroused, Shad settled behind a bush to wait.

* * *

"Stupid fire hydrants," Jason cursed, pulling himself out of the now wrecked vehicle. He grimaced as the cold water from the partially destroyed hydrant hit him.

He half expected to hear shouting or sirens in the distance like he would have back home in the city. But this was suburbia. People were at work and the kids were off somewhere doing kid stuff. Bradley was probably with them. Maybe playing hide and go seek or double-dutch. Stupid kid games.

The brat was probably getting soft on him. Sitting around with the rich brats eating chocolate bars and playing video games. His son was probably getting fat too. That's what happened to these rich kids.

Now he could here sirens in the distance. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find some place to lay low. Where the cops wouldn't find him, and incase his other brat showed up. Those two were loyal to each other at least, if no one else.

He'd heard there were some caves near the research center. They wouldn't be much but he'd lived in worse.

* * *

Sideswipe sighed in relief as they neared the clearing. He could already see Rad and Carlos waiting under the tree.

"Looks like we don't have to pay the Baileys a visit after all," Blurr commented dryly.

"Lucky us," Sideswipe agreed. Neither of them noticed the startled human they passed hiding in the bushes.

Rad slipped out of the tire swing as Sideswipe pulled up. "Hey," he greeted as Sideswipe and Blurr transformed. Blurr nodded in acknowledgement of the greeting and Sideswipe did his best to look like he wasn't fretting.

"So…" Rad continued.

"What's wrong?" Sideswipe asked again, picking up their earlier dialogue.

"Would you honestly believe that it's just been a rough week?" Rad asked, not really hopeful but not yet resigned.

"Not really. Remember, I perfected creative interpretations of the truth," Sideswipe reminded the boy.

"His dad broke out," Carlos piped up.

"Now that I can believe," Sideswipe sighed. "You could have told me," he said addressing Rad.

"If the timing were different I would have," Rad admitted.

"So just because we just dealt with Spindle you were going to try and handle this on your own?" Sideswipe questioned.

"I'm not dealing with it on my own. My brother's in town. He's helping me," Rad protested.

"Not to insult your brother, but how often did your father beat up on him?" Sideswipe asked.

"Shad's stronger than me. He wasn't as easy to beat up," Rad tried to justify.

"In other words, not as often as he beat you," Sideswipe stated.

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Does your brother know what happen to you after your dad had him arrested?" Sideswipe asked. Rad's face told him all he needed to know. "If you won't even tell him that much, how is he supposed to help you get through this?"

"He knows almost everything else." That defense sounded weak even to Rad.

"Does he know you were just kidnapped and starved for two days? Does he know everything else that you've gone through since you've started working with us?" Sideswipe pushed.

Rad didn't respond to that. There was no answer he could give that would satisfy Sideswipe.

"Rad," Blurr asked, "what does your brother look like?"

"He looks like me but older, and with broader shoulders. Why?" Rad asked confused at the sudden change of topic.

"Like that guy?" he asked pointing.

Rad turned toward the bushes Blurr was pointing at to find his brother gaping at him. Shad's gobsmacked expression would have seemed comical if not the fear he could read in his brother's eyes

"Shad, um… I think I can explain," Rad said, not sure exactly what he should do, completely thrown off by his brother's sudden appearance.

"I'm not so sure about that bro," Shad responded still gaping.

AN: R&R

Ceidre: Well that took forever.

Xandra: Sorry about worrying more about graduating high school and passing Drivers Ed that this fanfic.

Ceidre: As you should be.

Xandra: Why did I promise Brigg I wouldn't have you killed?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Question, for awhile I was contemplating doing a Mulan style romance fic between with Blurr and Sideswipe. Unfortunately I don't have the time. Would anybody else like to write it? Sideswipe can be male or female, and it has to take place on both Cybertron and Earth.

Chapter 6

"For the last time, I don't know where your brother is!" Optimus nearly shouted in exasperation at the yellow 'Bot.

"Look here Prime, 'Swipes should be still be recuperating in the infirmary, not running around this base with these idiots you're trying to pass off as Elites. Now, for some reason I can't find my brother anywhere on base and one of your so called 'Elites' is missing too. So excuse me for connecting the dots, but, for some reason, I think one event is connected to the other," Sunstreaker snarled.

"And as _I_ said before, Sideswipe was given a clean bill of health by Red Alert. Therefore, he retains the right to leave the base and go anywhere he damn well pleases as long as it is within reason," Optimus recited back.

"I don't think _you_ get it Prime. My brother has gone through hell these last few years. He's very vulnerable right now. He could easily be taken advantage of by that mercenary you're employing."

"If you worried about Blurr, then you're a few years too late. They've been together going on two years now."

"Yeah and two and a half years ago Sideswipe was fleeing Cybertron for his life. See a correlation in that timeline?" Sunstreaker snapped.

"Bad timing or not, their relationship is their business and no one else's. Sunstreaker, why don't you at least try to respect your brother's decision?" Optimus asked.

"I respect my brother but he's made some pretty bad decisions lately incase you hadn't noticed," Sunstreaker growled.

"But they were his to make. Mistakes are how we learn. The mistake your brother made with Spindle taught him some hard lessons. And it is still teaching him. Last week, two of his friends were assaulted by Spindle because Sideswipe underestimated how far gone he was. I think we can safely say your brother will avoid making that mistake again at all costs."

"He already is! Do you think that this Blurr will treat him like he deserves? I've spoken to several of your men, and they had some interesting stories to tell me about Sideswipe's first week here," Sunstreaker sneered.

"Blurr and Sideswipe had a difference of opinion, yes, just as every couple does at one time or another. But they resolved it and mended their relationship in a mature fashion," Optimus argued.

"Sideswipe used the yellow idiot to make Blurr jealous," Sunstreaker countered dryly.

"A mostly mature fashion," Optimus amended.

"Didn't the mercenary ignore Sideswipe because he was pissed?"

"They're acting mature _now,_" Optimus growled.

"Sure, because sneaking off to neck is _so_ mature," Sunstreaker scoffed.

Optimus glared at the yellow warrior. "If you're done, Sunstreaker, I have some work to do. If you're so concerned for your brother's wellbeing, why don't you go looking for him?"

"I have," Sunstreaker growled. "He's not in the base, and he's not answering his comm."

"Are you certain?" Optimus asked, resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn't be getting any work done today.

"Yes!"

Sighing, Optimus opened his comm. link. "Sideswipe? Please respond."

A moment passed before he received the hesitant reply. "Yes Sir?"

If Optimus himself had been any less mature he would have flashed a triumphant look in Sunstreaker's direction. "Your brother was worried. He says you weren't answering your comm. link."

Another pause. "Oops."

Optimus fought down a chuckle. Sideswipe may be maturing quickly, but at times he still reminded Optimus of a child.

"Where the slag have you been!?" Sunstreaker demanded, opening his own comm. link.

"It's a long story." Optimus winced as he recognized Blurr's voice answering instead of Sideswipe's. He had just gotten Sunstreaker reasonably calm.

"_You,_" Sunstreaker snarled. "What are you doing with my brother?!" he demanded.

Ignoring him, Blurr continued "We have a problem, Prime."

Not for the first time in his long career as leader of the Autobots, Optimus wondered just why the slagging hell he accepted the position in the first place. "What kind of problem?" he asked.

"We were seen," was the reply.

"Were seen doing what?" Sunstreaker demanded. All parties continued to ignore him.

"By who?" Optimus asked, praying it wasn't another reporter.

"Rad's older brother," Sideswipe answered.

"How much did he see?" Optimus groaned.

"Enough," Blurr said. "We're bringing back him to the base with us."

"Is it absolutely necessary?"

"Yes," was the terse reply. Optimus got the impression that the elder White wasn't taking the revelation of extraterrestrial beings as well as his younger brother had. The children had all been strangely accepting of their presence from almost the beginning.

"Alright. I'll have Red Alert meet you out front." Hopefully his CMO would know how to handle the distressed human.

* * *

"This is freaking messed up," Shad mumbled, eyes focusing sightlessly on the road in front of Sideswipe.

"Did you kids react like this when you first met Optimus and the others?" Sideswipe asked dubiously.

"Not really," Carlos answered from his place in the backseat. "We ran into Megatron first, everything that happened after that was a cake walk."

"I'm drunk," Shad rationalized. "This is some messed up, alcohol induced nightmare. I'm sitting in the Baileys' kitchen downing a bottle of Jim Beam."

"You're not drunk bro," Rad said, reaching over from the driver's seat to pat his brother comfortingly on the shoulder.

"Yes I am. I'm completely wasted, three sheets to the wind, sloshed, shitfaced, singing karaoke, dancing with a lampshade on my head--" Shad rattled on.

"Man, I think we broke your brother," Carlos whispered to Rad.

Rad shook his head. "No, he'll be fine. He just needs a little time to adjust." Despite his own assurances Rad eyed his brother warily. He had never considered telling anyone, especially his brother, about the Autobots for this very reason. He had no idea how they would react. And quite honestly his brother's reaction wasn't very encouraging.

"My god, I'm drunk!" Shad exclaimed again as though he just realized it.

"No. You're not," Rad repeated.

"Yes I am. And you need me damnit. What was I thinking? You need me sober. You need—" Slap! Silence reigned in Sideswipe's interior.

Shad turned to Rad, blinking slowly in disbelief. Rad held his brother's gaze for several long moments. Slowly, Shad brought his hand to his now reddening cheek.

"You slapped me," he accused incredulously.

"Yes," Rad nodded in agreement, "I slapped you."

"…Why?"

"Because you needed it, badly."

Shad blinked owlishly. "Oh," he said before leaning back in his seat to watch the road ahead. They spent the next five minutes watching the surrounding landscape pass by before Shad decided to break the silence.

"I'm not drunk, am I?" he asked dolefully.

"No," Rad shook his head.

"And you're not driving, are you?" he said with a raised eyebrow, nodding toward the steering wheel that was moving on it's own accord.

"Nope," Rad smiled. "Too young, remember?"

"Only thirteen, yeah," Shad mumbled. Suddenly his eyebrows rose as another question occurred to him. "Who _is_ driving?"

"That would be me," Sideswipe spoke up.

"The car talks?" Shad said thoughtfully. Glancing at his brother again he asked "I know you said I wasn't drunk, but is there the slightest possibility I might be high?"

"Would you honestly ever take drugs?"

"…No."

"Then no."

"Alright... Why does the car talk?" Shad asked candidly.

"Because the car is alive," Sideswipe answered. "Also, the car is a he who has a name."

"Meet Sideswipe, bro," Rad introduced with a grin.

"Sideswipe? That's an uncommon name," Shad said tentatively, hoping that he didn't sound insulting.

"It's perfectly normal back on Cybertron," Sideswipe huffed, the pout evident in his voice.

"Cybertron?" Shad asked.

"Sideswipe's home planet," Rad replied with a teasing grin.

"Of course it is," Shad sighed, slouching back down into his seat to ignore them for the rest of the ride.

* * *

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"Are they here yet?"

"Jetfire!"

"What?" Prime's second looked genuinely confused to find himself the target of Red Alert's ire.

"If you continue to annoy me this manner, you'll find yourself locked out of the infirmary at a very inopportune time," Red Alert warned calmly.

"Oh come on Red, you know you can't refuse anyone treatment," Jetfire chuckled at what he perceived to be an idle threat.

Red Alert glanced at him. "Who said anything about when you needed treatment?" he asked tonelessly.

It took a moment for his meaning to sink in. "Come on, Red!" Jetfire whined plaintively. Red Alert hid his smile by turning away.

Deciding to change the topic and hope Red Alert forgot his threat, Jetfire continued "So, Rad's big brother, huh?"

Red Alert nodded. "Apparently."

"Did you know he even had an older brother?" Jetfire asked; an unfamiliar look in his optics.

Red Alert shook his head "Before last week I was unaware that the Baileys were not Rad's biological parents, much less that he had siblings."

"Funny how he doesn't mention that kind of stuff," Jetfire drawled.

"Not really when you consider that before this morning Rad's brother had no idea that we existed," Red Alert countered.

"That's different. We need to preserve our secrecy for the humans' safety," Jetfire said.

"And Rad has the right to keep his life private from us. With the exception of Sideswipe, I don't believe any of us have told the kids much about our lives back on Cybertron outside of what directly pertains to the war."

"Maybe we should. If Sideswipe had let us know about Spindle, maybe things would have gone differently."

"It wouldn't have. It was his word against Spindle's. Optimus would need something a little more solid than that for charges as serious as assault, especially with Spindle's connections on Council. You know that Jetfire."

"We could have at least been on our guard when people started disappearing," Jetfire grumbled

"And Spindle would have been on his guard too. If that had occurred he might not have been so careless, in which case he may have succeeded in abducting Sideswipe, killing Hot Shot, and doing primus knows what to Rad," Red Alert pointed out. Both were silent for a moment, quietly contemplating the possible fates of their friends if Spindle's machinations hadn't been discovered before they went too far.

"Maybe," Jetfire finally conceded. "But something doesn't feel right Red. It might be that we just dodged a bullet but something's still got me on edge and I don't like it."

"You're not the only one feeling that way. Scavenger has similar concerns."

"Scavenger talks to you about his feelings?" Jetfire asked disbelievingly. Red Alert let his mouth twitch into a grin. Veiled as it was, there was jealousy in Jetfire's voice.

"When he's in my infirmary, yes," Red Alert said with good humor, though Jetfire probably didn't pick up on it.

"You let someone else into your infirmary!" Jetfire gasped in mock distress. Apparently he had heard the teasing in Red Alert's voice.

"Yes, contrary to your belief, I do occasionally treat injuries in there," Red Alert, openly teasing now.

"So there's no need to challenge Scavenger to a duel to defend your honor?"

"I need to tell Alexis to stop lending you those romance novels. They are lowering your intelligence quotient each time you open one."

"But they're interesting!"

"They're repetitive and degrading," Red Alert asserted.

"But Red," Jetfire whined.

"I believe I can see Sideswipe and Blurr approaching. I suggest you try to make a good impression on our guest."

AN: R&R

Ceidre: But the Autobots know about Rad's brother.

Xandra: Sideswipe and Optimus do. No one else.

Ceidre: But--

Xandra: Shut up.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: This took several months to write. Sorry. As you can probably tell my writing style's been evolving and hopefully maturing over those months. Kind of rushed through editing though, let me know if I screwed up the grammar.

Chapter 7

Talking cars, robots, and other planets. If Shad hadn't known any better he would have sworn he had stumbled into a low budget Sci-Fi flick. Well maybe not low budget but definitely sci-fi, he though glancing at the rearview mirror. The modified white Ferrari was clearly visible, following a short distance behind them. Not low budget at all.

"Bro, you're staring." Rad's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"It's a Ferrari, bro. What am I supposed to do?"

"Put your eyes back in their sockets for one," Sideswipe growled.

"Huh?" Shad grunted at Sideswipe's mood swing. Rad grinned in response.

"The Ferrari," Rad inclined his head back towards Blurr, "is Sideswipe's boyfriend. You were just checking out his man."

"Of course, the Skyline and the Ferrari are going out. That makes perfect sense," Shad replied, hysteria contained, but still evident in his voice. This was just getting weirder and weirder. What next, a motorcycle and an SUV? And why was everyone gay? Somewhere in this wide universe there had to be somebody who was straight.

"More sense than a bouncer and a banker," Sideswipe muttered just audibly.

"You told your robot friend about me and my boyfriend," Shad demanded, feeling slightly betrayed.

"I tell Sideswipe about a lot of stuff," said Rad with a shrug.

"About me?"

"Sometimes."

"Why?"

"Who else am I gonna talk to?"

"What about me?" Carlos piped up from the backseat.

Rad kept his face forward, most likely to keep Carlos from seeing the blush that had spread over his face. "There's just some things I really can't talk to you about, Carlos," Rad admitted, his tone convincing Shad that there was more between his brother and Carlos than the boys were letting on.

When Sideswipe began to decelerate Shad hazarded a glace out the windshield. Noting nothing out of the ordinary about the surrounding area he wondered why they were stopping. Then they rounded the final bend in the road.

"Oh my God," Shad hissed out in a breath. Back in that clearing he'd thought Blurr and Sideswipe were huge, with Sideswipe standing at around sixteen feet and Blurr a little taller. Now, confronted with two well over twenty foot robots, he was beginning to think Sideswipe might be small for an Autobot.

"Bro, we can get out now," Rad hinted while pushing his own door open.

Grabbing his little brother's arm, Shad pulled him back to whisper "They're friendly, right?"

"We are quite friendly Mr. White." Shad flinched at the monotone voice of the slightly smaller blue and white robot.

"They have good hearing," Rad said with a grin.

"Very good hearing," the larger, white robot called. Then the Bot cocked his head to the side as thought listening. "Hey Red Alert, is it safe for a human's heart to be beating that fast?"

"For short periods of time yes," Red Alert answered. "But an extended elevated heart rate can be dangerous, so please refrain from any practical jokes until he settles in a little more." There was no little amount of warning in his voice, though the tone never changed.

"Aw Red, would I do anything like that?" the white Bot asked.

"Yes. You are worse than the kids in that respect."

"Bro?" Shad asked.

"Don't worry, you'll get use to it," Rad answered his brother's unvoiced question.

* * *

"You slagging rat bastard!"

Shad nearly jumped out of his skin as the roar ripped through the corridor. If Rad hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled him aside to hug a wall, he would have been trampled by the rampaging yellow streak that flew by them towards Blurr.

"You fragging jackass! Where the Pit do you get off taking off with my brother you slagging pigbot!" the yellow mech ranted while somehow, despite his small stature, seeming to tower over Blurr.

"Pigbot? Sunny we haven't used those insults since we were sparklings," Sideswipe glowered.

"Not the time Sideswipe," the yellow bot growled.

"No, it's not." Shad flinched as the baritone rumbled through the room. The speaker had appeared without a sound. It was a robot that stood as tall as Jetfire, but with a slightly narrower build. Despite the smaller build, Jetfire seemed to defer to the other Bot, stepping back to let the new mech handle the dispute.

"He ran off with my brother Prime," Sunny growled.

"They went to visit Rad. That hardly constitutes a lynching," Prime replied sternly.

"In my mind it does," Sunny hissed.

"Well it doesn't in _my_ mind Sunstreaker," Prime threw back. "And, seeing as how _I_ am Prime, not you, it's my opinion we'll be going by." Shad couldn't tell for certain but he was pretty sure that Prime was glaring now. "Now if you are finished, I have a guest to greet," Prime continued, clearly dismissing Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker bristled, but turned to stalk down the corridor with one last snarl of 'we're not done' to Blurr.

With the yellow Bot's departure the tension drained out of Prime's frame. Shad felt himself relaxing too now that Prime didn't look ready to kill someone.

"I trust our guest hasn't been too badly traumatized?" Prime asked wryly.

"Naw, of course not Boss," Jetfire chirped cheekily.

"Rad?" Prime inquired.

"He'll be fine Optimus," Rad answered.

"Good." Prime turned to face Shad. "Greetings Mr. White."

"Um, hi?" Shad said in return. What else could he honestly say? He was talking to something straight out of a Sci-Fi.

"He's a little nervous," Rad said with a wince. Shad turned his best 'no shit' expression on his brother. Of course he was nervous, one little misstep and one of these Autobots could flatten him!

"Be that as it may, I'm sure he has a few questions that he would like answered."

"Maybe a few," Shad agreed. His eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on Rad. "Like what Sideswipe meant back in the woods about you being kidnapped."

"Figures he heard that part," Blurr muttered derisively from somewhere behind him.

Optimus flinched, throwing a baleful look in Sideswipe and Blurr's general direction. "That was not one of our finer moments. Recently we were sent a new recruit from Cybertron named Spindle. Unknown to us, Spindle had another agenda."

When all the eyes in the room shifted, it wasn't where they shifted to that was most telling, it was where they refused to settle. Not a single one of the Autobots would look at Sideswipe. There was a story here that they weren't telling, one they probably wouldn't tell him even if he asked.

"To achieve his goals Spindle needed my men and I to be …distracted." Prime's hesitance to use the term distracted wasn't very reassuring. It was easy enough to guess that Rad had been the distraction Prime was talking about. "He had Rad abducted from the ridge over looking the valley outside of our base's main entrance. We're still a little unclear as to how."

Shad tossed Rad an inquiring glance. Rad responded with a shrug, "All I know is that this 'copter came out of nowhere and grabbed me while I was watching the sunset."

"What is with you and watching the sun going up and down?"

"Anyway," Optimus continued, mostly to avoid more brotherly squabbling. "We were notified by Carlos the following morning that Rad had not returned home that evening. Initially, after we ruled out the possibility of him being kidnapped by the most likely suspects, we thought he had simply gotten lost, though we quickly ruled that out due to Rad's extensive knowledge of these mountains. I ordered search parties under the assumption that he had met with an accident on his way home, a theory we believed confirmed when we located the PDA he had been carrying at the time of his disappearance."

"Oh crap, Alexis's PDA! It wasn't that messed up when you found it, was it?" Rad asked with a wince.

"It was mangled beyond all recognition," Red Alert announced frankly. "We identified it by it's color."

"Luckily the metallic pink really stood out against the dirt on the valley floor," Jetfire threw in.

"Metallic pink?" Shad asked. His brother had been carrying a metallic pink PDA?

"It belonged to Alexis. Her parents thought she'd like it. She didn't," Rad groaned. "Maybe she'll forgive me if I help talk her parents into getting her that new model that comes in that shade of red she likes."

"I don't think she'll hold it against ya kid," Jetfire placated. " 'Specially considering how that PDA was the reason the search got downgraded to recovery—ow!" Jetfire turned to glare irately at Red Alert, who still had his arm poised to smack him again. "What was that for Red? We were going to tell him anyway."

"Yes, in a tactful manner completely lacking flippancy or humor," Red Alert intoned gravely.

"Recovery?" asked Rad, apparently having been previously unaware that the Autobots had given him up for dead. He was remarkably composed considering his emotional fragility earlier in the Baileys' kitchen.

"Yes. Given the condition of the PDA and lack of evidence pointing to other possibilities we…" Prime didn't finish.

Rad finished for him. "You weren't expecting to find anything pretty."

"No, we weren't," Prime admitted sadly.

Shad was struck by a realization. These guys cared about Rad. It shouldn't have struck him as odd considering the way they had been interacting him, but it hadn't truly sunk in until Shad heard the true regret in Prime's—or rather Optimus as Rad called him—voice at the very idea that Rad could have been killed out there in that valley.

"Shortly thereafter though, Hot Shot, a young soldier under my command, was reported missing by Spindle. Then Spindle himself vanished with another one of my troops." Again, all eyes carefully avoided looking at Sideswipe. "Later, we managed to locate Hot Shot. As it turned out, he and Spindle had spoken before Spindle apparently threw him over a cliff. The information he'd acquired from this conversation gave us reason to believe that Rad had been abducted by Spindle or someone working for him."

"And?" Shad asked when Prime didn't immediately continue.

"And then Blurr here took off on a one man rescue mission, ran head long in to Sunny Sunshine, and had things pretty much under control by the time Optimus and I arrived," Jetfire answered jovially.

And why did Shad have a feeling that it wasn't Rad that Blurr took off to rescue? The smile Sideswipe sent Blurr's way did nothing to lessen that feeling. Oh yeah, there was more to the story than what they were telling.

* * *

Perfect. The cave he'd found was both secluded and serviceable. The floor was mostly smooth and there weren't any of those stalactites or mites or whatever the hell they were called. Vaguely Jason recalled Shadrach reading some book about spelunking aloud to Bradley, and tossing around phrases like that. Anyway, he didn't think he could build a fire but he wouldn't need one. Light wouldn't be an issue and a chilly desert night couldn't compare to the freezing nights back east.

Besides, he wouldn't be here long. Just long enough to track down his snitch of a youngest son.

* * *

It had been slightly odd to see Rad's bike propelling itself down the main corridor of the Autobot base and only slightly more disconcerting to shake it's hand in greeting. Shad was beginning to wonder just how deeply his brother was involved with the Autobots. If he had one living with him, more than likely without the Baileys knowledge, he had to be in pretty deep.

"Beep bee," the small robot…honked? No it was more like an electric door chime Shad guessed.

"Highwire says it's nice to meet you, bro" Rad translated for the tiny robot.

"Beep!" Highwire turned a rather indignant glare on Rad. "Beep beep!"

Rad shrugged apologetically. "I didn't mean to leave you behind Highwire. We were only planning on having a short talk with Sideswipe before heading back to the house."

"Beep bee bee beep!" Highwire actually shook his finger at Rad, reminding Shad of how one of those TV moms would scold their children.

"I know I've nearly given you spark failure enough times for one week—"

"Rad?"

"Yeah bro?"

"You can actually talk to this… uh… guy?"

"Yup."

"How?"

"He understands English, bro."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know, but it's really all the answer you're gonna get."

"So you're not gonna tell me where you picked up techno talk?" asked Shad.

"It's not techno talk, bro. The Minicons came up with their language on their own. As for how I understand it, I really don't know."

"Be beep bee Beep," Highwire chimed.

"What'd he say?"

"Something about imprinting and giving me knowledge of his language when he scanned me," Rad said, intrigued. "So did that happen when I first touched the panel you were sealed in, or when you woke up while we were being chased by Megatron?"

"Beep bee Beepbe. Be beep be beep."

"Really?"

"Rad, can we just talk… without all the robots around?" Rad and Highwire both stared at him blankly, having already forgotten his presence.

"Uh, I guess," said Rad, the first to regain his bearings. "Do you mind Highwire?"

"Bee beep. Be Beepbe," Highwire chimed. He nodded a quick goodbye to Shad and took his leave.

After Shad was sure Highwire was out of hearing range he spoke. "What's really going on here Rad?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've got an alien living in your garage, you're keeping some pretty big secrets from me and the Baileys, and …" Shad frowned. He couldn't put his finger on quite what it was, but something about Rad's manner had changed since this morning. "Back in the Baileys' kitchen, when we first found out about Dad, you were a mess. You heard that Dad was out and you just lost it. Then suddenly your Autobot friends show up and you're fine?"

"Why shouldn't I be? It's not like Dad can get to me here," Rad waved his arm at their surroundings for emphasis. Shad had to admit he had a point. The Autobot Base was very secure. Even if their father knew where to look for it he'd have a hell of a time getting in.

"That's not what I meant. It's like you turned into someone else as soon as we got here." Rad had always been laid back, never letting minor things get to him. But the subject of their father was not minor in any way, shape, or form. It was the one thing that was guaranteed to set Rad off, usually with unpredictable results. Rad's most typical reaction to even offhand reference to Jason either was anger or terror.

Rad heaved a heavy sigh. "Bro, I know this isn't exactly what you want to hear, but in the last year I've faced things a lot more terrifying than Dad. For a second there, back at the Baileys, I forgot that. But being here brings it all back into perspective. I'm still afraid of him and he's still my personal nightmare, but there are worse monsters hiding in the closet now."

"There shouldn't be," Shad hissed. Then he winced. "That didn't come out right."

"No it didn't," Rad agreed.

"You're a kid, there shouldn't be any monsters in the closest worse than a failing grade in math."

"But there are and nothing is going to change that. We can't change the past, Shad."

"Only the future," Shad agreed, echoing his own words from that first night after they'd fled from their father.

"So," Shad began, needing a change of topic, "how'd you get mixed up in all of this?"

* * *

Hannah Bailey eyed her kitchen dubiously. The dishes were only half done, the wash rag was wadded up behind the faucet, and the dish towel lay in a crumpled heap on the far side of the dish drainer.

Shadrach White had stayed at her house often enough to know how she liked her kitchen, and this was certainly not it. God help him if she found him up a tree in the backyard with pair of binoculars in some vain attempt to spy on his brother.

A peek out the window proved that the backyard trees to empty of anything other than that damn vulture that had taken up residence in the old oak that marked the far property line. If she were a superstitious woman, she'd have found the timing of the bird's arrival to be worrying. The first time she'd glimpsed the vulture was only hours before Rad vanished.

Steeling herself, she fought to banish the memory of that first night when she and her husband stayed up until dawn hoping Rad would turn up on his own. By nine p.m. that same night they'd called the Lopez's three times to see if he'd turned up there. By ten they'd been on the phone with the local police for the sixth time, practically begging them to issue an AMBER Alert even though they knew Rad's case didn't fit the criteria. At ten-fifteen she'd dialed Shad's work number and calmly informed his boss that she needed to speak with Shad, and no, it couldn't wait until his break at midnight. Shortly after five the next morning Shad had appeared at their front door with his boss's Mustang in the driveway and six speeding tickets in his back pocket.

With one last frown at the bird, Hannah turned her attention back to her kitchen. It was Mike's turn to make dinner tonight, but considering the circumstance, she doubted he would be up to it. The past few days had been rough on all of them, and now with Jason on the loose… Maybe they would order out tonight. They hadn't had Italian in awhile, and Rad was partial to fettuccine alfredo.

A glance at the clock told her it was going on three-thirty. Hannah hadn't realized it had gotten so late. She'd been home for five hours and hadn't heard a peep out of either of the White brothers in three. That was slightly worrying.

Jason White wouldn't have been able to sneak in and steal either of his children away without raising some kind of alarm. Her rational mind knew that. But it did nothing to quell the sudden dread she felt pooling in her stomach. Rad was not a quiet person, and neither was his brother. The two of them always had to have a radio or TV on to provide background noise. Listening now, Hannah realized it was completely silent. She couldn't even make out Rad or Carlos's voices from upstairs like she should be able to with the house this quiet.

Five minutes later, as she stood in the doorway of Rad's now empty bedroom, Hannah couldn't decide whether to be terrified or furious.

AN: R&R. Yeah, I know she called Shad's work after ten at night. He's a bouncer, he works nights. I meant to mention how he was still wearing one of those typical SECURITY shirts when he arrived but it didn't fit in to the actual story.


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

AN: Trying to keep their ages in perspective sucks.

Chapter 8

Shad glared at his surroundings. So this was where it happened.

To the west there was a wide unobstructed view of the desert landscape. He could see for miles over the hills and valleys that made up the terrain. At sunset the desert would burn shades of gold and red, the dirt and dust reflecting the dying light. It would be an entrancing sight.

But to the east there was a fifteen foot wall of stone. Anything or anyone that approached from that direction would be completely hidden from sight. And three nights ago, someone had used that to their advantage. A rogue Autobot had silently slipped across the higher ground, hidden from view by the lay of the land, and grabbed Rad from this very spot before flying away.

"So it happened here."

"No need for melodrama, bro."

"I'm sorry, my little brother gets abducted by aliens and _I'm_ being melodramatic?"

"Yeah, that's about right."

Shad glared at his brother. "You know, once upon a time you weren't this snippy."

"And once upon a time I believed the shark from Jaws II was a robot named Sky-Byte who liked haikus and lived in Japan. Your point?"

A staring contest ensued and lasted almost five minutes, both of the brothers too stubborn to blink. Realizing the pointlessness of the contest, Shad broke eye contact first. "Never mind. Anyway, what's the story with Sideswipe and Spindle?"

"What makes you think there is one?" Rad asked, blinking rapidly, willing moisture back into his eyes.

"Autobots make lousy poker players, now what's the story?"

"Think Ross Monroe."

Shad tensed. "Ross?"

"Pretty much, just more psychotic and less narcissistic," Rad confirmed.

"Ex-boyfriend from hell complete with hellhounds?"

"Yup."

"Damn. And no psychotic father to chase him off?"

"More like a psychotic twin and a protective new boyfriend."

"Sunstreaker and Blurr?"

"Yeah."

Shad nodded thinking back to the year before his eighteenth birthday. Ross had been a narcissistic bastard and Shad really should have known better. But at the time he'd been stubborn and angry at Jason, a permanent condition in those days. He'd taken Ross up on his offer to hang out a few times—since two guys didn't 'date' each other, at least not in their part of town. Soon enough he'd remembered why he had always turned guys like Ross down and the next time Ross came around Shad had told him to go to hell—in more words and less nicely. Unfortunately, he'd said it while Ross's buddies —four football rejects, none of them having a brain of their own, who would followed Ross's every word to the letter—were in shouting range

The moral of the story, as it turned out, was that his father had occasionally had his uses. One visit from Jason White and Ross Monroe had never bothered him again.

"Anything else to that story?"

"Not really."

"Good. Now about this Carlos kid—"

"Don't even go there, bro."

"I have a right to know how things stand between you two."

"Friends, since five minutes after I got here."

"Friends with potential?"

"Friends plain and simple."

"Where have I heard that before?"

"When I was asking you about Tony two years back."

"So it is more than friends. Now, let me call Tony and he can have that cousin of his take care of everything."

"No mobsters."

"I meant the other cousin."

"The drill sergeant?"

"The other, other cousin."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why don't I just send Cousin Derrick after Tony?"

"Nevermind."

"Now, if we're done playing catch up, can we head in?" Rad asked with a wary look toward the skies.

Shad raised a brow. "I thought you were being well adjusted about this?"

"I am. But there's a difference between being well adjusted and tempting fate. Now, I really wanna head in."

Before Shad could begin another round of teasing, his pocket began to vibrate. Frowning, he slid his hand in to dig out his cellphone. Finding it wrapped up in wad of paper, he pulled it out along with a couple speeding tickets from the state of Oregon— though he was pretty sure he'd never been to Oregon much less got a speeding ticket there. A look at the screen had him cursing.

"Who is it?" Rad asked.

Instead of answering him, Shad flipped open his and responded cheerily, "Hi Mrs. B."

"Crap," he heard Rad groan.

"Shadrach, I know that it's been awhile since you had to let someone other than Tony know when you're coming or going, but Rad is still a child and with your father on the loose—"

"I get it Mrs. B. We're gonna be heading home in another few minutes, I promise. We're just visiting some of Rad's friends."

"If you're not back in thirty minutes I'm calling the police."

"Yes ma'am," Shad agreed, not doubting her for a minute.

"See you soon, sweetheart." And the call ended with a click.

Shad flipped the phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. "Of all the places to actually get cell reception—what the hell's with that? I never get reception in High Desert," he complained.

"The Autobots have this antenna thing that boosts cell reception as a side effect. I'm not really sure what it's actually for though."

"Yeah, great. How quick can Sideswipe get us back to the Baileys? I really don't feel like getting arrested today."

* * *

The ride back to town was quiet, with everyone's minds occupied by their own thoughts. The brothers with the various revelations of the day, Sideswipe with his evening patrol route, and Carlos with… other things.

Throughout the ride Carlos had been sneaking glances at his not so secret crush. Not so secret, obviously, because if it were a secret Mrs. Bailey, Shadrach, and even Rad wouldn't know about it. Judging by the conversation they'd overheard this morning Mrs. Bailey had known for awhile and all Shad had to do was look at him to figure it out. Carlos wondered how long Rad had known. Days? Weeks? Since they met? Carlos might never figure that one out but one thing was for sure, Rad knew now.

The knowing looks should have tipped him off a long time ago. The occasional odd smile was another clue. Not Rad's usual smile, which would light up his eyes, but a small half grin that on anyone else would have looked really scary. Other times Rad would be catch him watching him and just blush, not beet red, but just dark enough to be noticed.

Yeah, Rad knew about his crush. And it didn't make him uncomfortable from what Carlos could tell. Maybe that's why he hadn't realized Rad knew before now. He'd expected Rad to pull away when he figured it out, or at least give some sign that he knew and wasn't happy about it. But no, instead freaking out about his crush on him, Rad started flirting with him. Well, he was pretty sure Rad had been flirting with him. It was kind of hard to tell since he'd never seen Rad flirt with anyone before.

Sideswipe slowly pulling to a halt ended Carlos's musings. The group piled out onto the deserted sidewalk along Maypole road, which ran east to west two blocks north of their neighborhood.

"Gee bro, that's not suspicious at all," Rad remarked at his brother's attempts to survey their surroundings covertly.

"I'm just making sure nobody's watching. They might think it's a little strange if Sideswipe just drives off without a driver," Shad threw back.

"Actually humans don't usually notice," Sideswipe piped up. "Mostly they just see what they want to, and even if they do notice anything out of the ordinary they rationalize it as being a trick of the light or possibly a hallucination like you did."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Shad grimaced.

"Anyway, I need to get going. I've got the first patrol shift," Sideswipe announced.

"Patrol shift?" Rad asked.

"Yeah. We're going to be keeping an eye on things here in town for a few days," said Sideswipe. "Optimus thinks you've had enough excitement for awhile."

"I don't know whether to be comforted or embarrassed," Rad grumbled.

"I'd be a little of both myself," Sideswipe chuckled. "But don't worry, if anything happens, one of us should be within shouting range at all times."

"Who's patrolling tonight?" Carlos asked.

"Me, Hot Shot, and Smokescreen are on the first shift. If any of you guys need anything, just yell, we'll be listening," Sideswipe promised.

"Won't Smokescreen stand out?" Carlos asked.

"Smokescreen?" Shad queried.

"A tow truck," Rad answered.

"What's so odd about that?"

"A bright orange and purple tow truck."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, he'll be staying out of sight unless something happens. Remember, if you kids need help we'll be nearby," Sideswipe reminded them again.

"Got it."

As Sideswipe sped away Shad turned to his brother, "Kids? I'm not a kid."

"You are to him," Rad laughed. "We all are."

Glancing at his watch Shad said, "We need to hurry, we've got five minutes before Mrs. B. calls the cops."

"We'll be fine. It doesn't take that long to get home from here."

"Yeah, which way's the house?" Shad asked.

"That way," Rad pointed south.

"Let's get moving then," Shad ordered, striding off toward the Baileys'.

"What's with him?" Carlos asked.

"He spent a few nights in a holding cell once and he really didn't like it," Rad admitted.

The three of them made it to the Baileys' house with ten seconds to spare. Shad bounded up the front steps, threw open the front door, and announced "We're back!" at the top of his lungs.

Carlos and Rad followed him at a more sedate pace, both preferring to risk Mrs. Bailey's wrath rather than make complete fools out of themselves in broad daylight. After all, they wouldn't be the ones getting arrested if Mrs. Bailey went through with her threat and called the cops.

Mrs. Bailey greeted them with a hard look. "I don't suppose it occurred to any of you that I might be a little worried when I found you'd disappeared."

"Sorry Miss Hannah. I wasn't really thinking straight and dragged Carlos along for the ride," Rad spoke up. "I really needed to talk to Alexis about her PDA. I lost it somewhere and you know how she is about her stuff."

"I hardly think Alexis is worried about her PDA at a time like this," Mrs. Bailey scolded. "If I remember right the girl didn't even like that ugly thing."

"Yeah, but—"

"No buts Bradley, you shouldn't have left without telling me. If you needed to talk to Alexis and couldn't do it over the phone I would have driven you and not suffered a near heart attack when I realized you'd all vanished."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now, you three can go wait in the kitchen until Mike get's home or until you feel up to telling me where you really went," Mrs. Bailey said making shooing motions with her hands.

"If you don't believe me you can call her, Miss Hannah. She'll tell you we were there," Rad protested.

"I'm sure she would. I swear you owe that girl your immortal soul by now for all the times she's covered for you over the years," Mrs. Bailey huffed. "Now you three, off to the kitchen. Oh, and Shadrach, when I told you to clean up, I meant spotless."

* * *

"I can't believe this," Shad grumbled as he chased cobwebs with a towel covered broom.

"I can," Rad smirked before he dug into his alfredo.

"No one asked you brat," Shad growled, thinking of his own meal sitting on the counter getting cold.

* * *

Coming to a halt at the intersection of Collin Street and Reginald Way, Sideswipe did a quick scan of the area. All three of the humans he detected were locals with legitimate reasons for being in the area. Turning left onto Reginald, he ran a continuous scan allowing for the occasional child trying to get the most out of the final days of summer vacation. Three blocks later he turned left onto Scott Drive. So far nothing out of the ordinary, he noted as he passed the Baileys' house.

Optimus had arranged for two eight-hour shifts to patrol the town from four p.m. to eight a.m.— the given assumption being that Rad would spend the majority of other eight hours at the base or in the presence of one of the Autobots. The town patrol was completely voluntary, since those eight hours came mostly out of their free time—which usually equated to recharge time. But not so strangely, they weren't lacking volunteers for the patrols. Everyone but Optimus, Jetfire, and Scavenger had been scheduled into the patrol rotation. Jetfire was still miffed about being left out even though Optimus's reasons for refusing his request to be included in the rotation were blatantly obvious.

Sideswipe turned left two blocks over onto Brian Blvd. and drove two blocks up to hook a left onto Maypole. Three blocks over, he turned left onto Py Way and followed it to the dead end where Hot Shot was parked. Taking his spot across from Hot Shot, he blinked his headlights in farewell as Hot Shot left to begin his rounds in silence.

They were maintaining radio silence more out of habit than necessity, though they couldn't completely rule out the possibility of Jason White having the proper equipment to tap their communications. Sideswipe felt sorry for Smokescreen, who had to sit in the woods behind Rad's house all night by himself. At least he and Hot Shot would be seeing each other hourly when they switched off.

As the sun finally began to drop below the western horizon Sideswipe settled in to wait.

* * *

Shad dropped heavily into the deckchair beside Rad on the Baileys' patio. Reclining, he stared up at the stars, absently wondering which one the Autobots came from. After deciding his train of thought was overly clichéd, he turned to his brother.

"You know, letting Carlos spend the night might not be the best idea."

"Will you give it a rest," Rad sighed in exasperation. Not having his brother's reservation about clichés, or perhaps he was just past the point were it mattered, Rad's eyes stayed fixed on the stars.

"Well theoretically speaking, if Dad did try to come after you here and Carlos just happened to get in his way—"

Rad gave him a baleful look. "If Dad did try to come after me here he'd be the one in need of rescuing, not Carlos."

"Really?" Shad replied skeptically. "What makes you say that?"

"Well for one, Hot Shot and Sideswipe are patrolling out front. One of them passes by the house at least once every ten minutes—"

"And if he tried to come through the woods," Shad motioned toward the thicket for emphasis.

Rad rolled his eyes. "Hi, Smokescreen," he called out.

"Hey Rad," was the disembodied, pleasant reply.

Shad gaped at the woods trying—and failing— to locate the hidden transformer among the trees. "I though you said he orange and purple." Shad frowned. "And how did you know he was out there?"

Rad stared back at him blankly.

"Nevermind. Okay, and what are you going to do if Dad manages to slip past the watchdogs like we both know he can?" Shad demanded.

"Please, Shad. Mr. Bailey teaches self-defense classes in his spare time, you're a bouncer in Sin City, Highwire's hiding in the garage, and Lazerbeak doubles as a taser."

Shad blinked. "Oh." Off in the distance he could hear Smokescreen snickering. "Wait, that bird thing doubles as a taser?"

"Yeah."

"Really? How strong's the maximum voltage?"

"Strong enough to make Megatron flinch."

"So strong enough to fry Dad?"

"… I've got him set to a less-lethal voltage."

"Uh-huh. We're having a talk with Optimus about that tomorrow."

"Whatever. Now," Rad said standing up, "I'm going to bed."

"We're not done talking about this yet."

"About Lazerbeak?"

"About Dad," Shad corrected.

"Yes we are."

"If he comes here—"

"If he comes here he's not getting anywhere near me," said Rad.

"You're not taking this seriously enough, Rad. He—"

"I'm not taking this seriously enough because I know that if gets a hold of me, it won't be here and it won't be tonight," Rad snapped. Turning toward the door, he took a calming breath. "Goodnight Smokescreen," he called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight Rad," Smokescreen called back.

Without another word Rad pulled the door open and slipped inside.

Shad stared after him for a few moments wondering if he should have said something more.

"He's right you know," said Smokescreen.

Turning back toward the woods, Shad once again tried to spot the robot in the trees. "Where the hell are you?" he asked.

"Wouldn't be doing my job too well if you could spot me that easy," Smokescreen chuckled.

"What did you mean about Rad being right?" Shad asked, ignoring the jibe.

"Your father knows Rad's not very vulnerable here. He's probably guessed that you're here, and more than likely figures that there are cops watching the house too—there are by the way, we had to plan Sideswipe and Hot Shot's patrol around theirs." Shad nodded. He'd seen the patrol car drive by every so often. "Even if your father does strike here tonight, he's not likely to get that far. You should probably be more worried about Rad when he's walking down the street in broad daylight."

"So you're telling me not to worry about him tonight?"

"No. If I were you I'd have Rad holed up in a windowless room with myself between him and the door. Looking for him on the valley floor a few days ago was more than enough for me. I'm not sure how I'd handle doing it again."

"You were part of the search crew when Rad went missing?"

"Hell kid, I was the one who found that damn PDA. I was there when Prime called the search off and sent us back to base." Smokescreen went quiet for a moment. "You know, when we left, we all thought that Optimus would be bringing back Rad's body. I think you can guess how that felt."

"Yeah," Shad agreed. "I think I can."

"Like I said kid, keep an eye on him tonight, but keep a better eye on him tomorrow."

* * *

He'd found the t-shirt hanging on a clothesline on the northern edge of town. The blue jeans he'd gotten out of a charity box in the local church. The baseball cap, representing some local minor league team, had been laying on somebody's front porch. For the binoculars he'd finally broken down and jimmied the lock at the local camera store.

Four blocks northwest of Scott Dr. he found a lot that hosted the community playground. On the edge of the lot there was an oak tree tall enough for him to be able to see the house and with just enough foliage to hide him from the casual observer without obstructing his view.

He settled into a crook in the branches around ten-thirty and waited. It didn't take long for him to figure out who the guard dogs were. A dark Skyline was making a slow circuit that took it by the house every ten minutes. At eleven the Skyline vanished and was replaced by a yellow sports car, a Bentley from the look of it. There was a marked patrol car that would appear every thirty or so minutes, drive by the house, and then vanished again. He noted with interest that the unmarked cars made a point of disappearing whenever the patrol car appeared.

After awhile he began to suspect that the unmarked cars weren't working with the police. His suspicions were confirmed when, around midnight, the Bentley was replaced by a yellow Dodge Viper. The Viper stood out far too much to be an unmarked cop car. That conclusion was further reinforced when a white Ferrari took over at one a.m.

When two o'clock rolled around the Viper reappeared. The Skyline and Bentley didn't make another appearance before four-thirty when he decided to head back up the mountain.

All in all, he'd ruled out getting anywhere near the house. Since the police were watching it he had to assume they'd connected him to the car he'd wrecked earlier. They knew he was here and that he was looking for Bradley. The cops would be simple enough to get past, he'd done it before. But he wasn't so sure about these other protectors Bradley had picked up. Whoever they were, they had taken more than a casual interest in the brat's safety. He'd bet money they'd have someone on Bradley at all times. One or two of them were probably stationed in those woods behind the house too.

He would have to wait and see if they slipped up anywhere. That would push his plans back a little. He'd be in town for longer than he'd planned, meaning his hideout stood a better chance of being discovered. He would need to find some fallback hideouts, just incase.

He was back in his cave by the time the sun rose, after taking the long way back to avoid the woods where Bradley's protectors were likely stationed.

Jason lingered by the entrance for a few moments, watching as the sun broke over the horizon. After awhile he headed in to get some sleep.

AN: Writing the patrol route was rough, I was halfway through when I realized that the Autobots couldn't be circling Rad's house because it's on the edge of town. I had to draw a map of the town to keep it straight. And damn, looking back I can't find any mention of Rad's dad being drunk in that scene when he's arriving in High Desert. I know I wrote him as being drunk and I could have sworn I mentioned him leaving an empty bottle of whiskey in the car.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Wikipedia refers to Alexis's Minicon as Sureshock, but I've always though of him as Grindor. And since they switched names often enough in the show it shouldn't be a problem.

Also, Jason White has no respect for religion and therefore no problem stealing from church of any denomination. No particular religion is being disrespected, it is the character's view, not mine.

Chapter 9

Rad absently watched the sunlight creep along his bedroom wall. The light slid over the smooth paint, played along the top of his bookshelf, teased the edge of a drooping poster, and then danced across the side of Carlos's head.

Rad'd woken an hour ago, shortly before sunrise. Surprisingly, he'd woken out habit rather than from nightmares. He'd expected to be plagued with nightmares after hearing about his father's breakout, but instead slept peacefully.

The sleeping arrangements from the night before had him pinned to the bedroom wall by Shad's bulkier form while Carlos was sprawled out on a cot by the door. Rad couldn't get out of bed without waking his brother, and had no real desire to get up anyway. For the moment he was content to just lay there and watch the sunlight play with Carlos's black hair.

Getting up meant facing reality, and while his subconscious was seemingly at peace with the situation, his conscious mind was another story. Rad wasn't ready to face the fact his father was out there, watching his every move, waiting to catch him alone. He wasn't ready to face that, sooner or later, he'd have to face the man himself.

The last time he'd faced his father, it was from across a courtroom. There had been over fifty witnesses looking on, twelve of whom would decide his father's fate. As such, his father hadn't even looked at him threateningly. After Rad's testimony was given he'd been out of that room and back in Shad's arms so quickly he was pretty sure he'd bowled over the prosecutor in his haste to escape.

When he saw his father again he wouldn't have those fifty witnesses. He wouldn't have the nice social worker to hold his hand and sneak him chocolate to make him feel better. Shad wouldn't be waiting just outside, ready to be there at a moments notice if it got to be too much. He'd be alone with his second worst nightmare.

It would happen. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that his father would get to him. Shad was right when he said that their father could get past the Autobots and into the Baileys' house. He wouldn't, but he could manage it. His father wouldn't risk it though. He'd have no way of knowing what he'd face once he got in.

No, Rad was more likely to find himself cornered at the store or grabbed right off the street. Maybe he'd be pulled into an idling car and driven to a secluded location. Even going between his and Carlos's houses would be dangerous. There were plenty of blind spots his father could be hiding in.

The creaking of the stairs had Rad reaching under his pillow for Lazerbeak even as he recognized the tread. Letting go of the bird, he propped himself on his elbow just as the door creaked open.

"Bebeep?" Highwire asked quietly, sticking his head in.

Rad shook his head. No, he'd get up whenever Shad and Carlos did.

The look Highwire gave him was a far too knowing, but the small robot didn't push. He slipped back out, leaving Rad to his thoughts.

* * *

Highwire sighed as he reached the kitchen. His friend was tough, just a Smokescreen and Sideswipe had said. But that didn't mean that he didn't need looking after. Rad had a habit of attracting the bad kind of excitement on a good day and all out apocalypses on the bad days. Falling through the cave floor and activating the signal that restarted their war had just been the beginning. Getting chased by Megatron and Cyclonus had been somewhat remarkable in the grand scheme of things. Getting himself kidnapped and held hostage on two separate occasions had to have been one of Rad's crowning achievements. And let's not forget that trip into the bowels of Unicron—though to give Rad some credit that technically hadn't happened yet.

Now his friend was in danger from a different source. Rad's biological parent was trying to do him some serious harm, though that only was if this Jason White's intent wasn't to kill Rad outright. Highwire wished he could say that a creator trying to kill their own sparklings was a foreign concept to him, but given his own ancestry… well it didn't surprise him.

Protecting Rad was one of the duties he'd taken on upon his first awakening and so far his performance had been far from satisfactory. Thinking through his failures once again, he noted that each one should have been easily avoided, yet hadn't. While he admitted he really couldn't do anything about the Unicron incident without drastically altering history, he couldn't help but berate himself for his carelessness with the others. Even yesterday, when Rad had managed to slip away back to the base without his knowledge, should have been easily avoided. Admittedly Rad was a difficult charge, with his independent streak and affinity for doing the right thing, but Highwire'd had more than enough time to learn to compensate for that.

Reviewing several of his recent failures brought about another revelation. While he had promised to remain hidden from humans at large, his continued deception of the Baileys was severely impeding his duties to Rad. He could not come and go as was needed to keep up with Rad. He had to spend his nights in the garage, too far away from Rad to be of any immediate assistance in Highwire's opinion.

Staring around the kitchen, Highwire wondered what Rad would like for breakfast. He'd eaten fairly early the night before and would be getting hungry soon. Highwire'd heard Shadrach complaining yesterday about having to cook and decided he didn't want to have to put up with the older White brother's whining today. Scrambled eggs would have to do. It was the only human dish he knew how to make. He'd attempted to make hamburgers one particularly boring Monday, but both Rad and Carlos had declared it unfit even for the skunk that sometimes ventured into the backyard. Though honestly those two couldn't talk much, between the two of them the only dish they could prepare was fried rice, created as a fluke while they were attempting to make pasta.

* * *

As patrols went, last night's was pretty boring. Not that he'd say that to Sideswipe, who might take such a statement the wrong way— Blurr knew how seriously Sideswipe was taking the current situation.

When he and Sunstreaker took over at midnight all had been quiet. It had stayed that way for the rest of the night not counting a few false alarms near the children's playground. When eight a.m. rolled around they'd headed back to base, leaving Red Alert and Smokescreen to watch the house until one of the kids came out and waved them off. Technically, only Red Alert should have still been there since Smokescreen's shift had ended at midnight, but Smokescreen had insisted that he could recharge just as well in Rad's backyard as he could in his recharge berth.

Blurr put that from his mind as he stretched, trying to work the kinks out of his joints. For having arrived back at the base only a few minutes ago and not having been to see Sideswipe yet, he was in a surprisingly good mood. While he was still certain that Sunstreaker was plotting his gory death, this morning had proved they could tolerate each other enough to work together. That was a step in the right direction.

While he whole heartedly believed that Sideswipe sincerely loved him and had no intention of leaving him—Sideswipe had told him so often enough since their relationship had become serious that he no longer doubted it like he had in the beginning—but Sunstreaker's animosity wouldn't make things easy for them. And with Sideswipe's recent admissions about his relationship with Spindle there was an almost terrifying vulnerability about Sideswipe that reminded him of the early days.

While his first meeting with Sideswipe was a rather terse exchange of names before an anticlimactic rescue, his second was only slightly less dramatic. Still rather irritated at his luck for landing him on a rundown planet with dwindling supplies, being all but tackled by a young mech had shocked him out of his foul mood. He hadn't recognized Sideswipe until shorter mech had muttered another introduction at Blurr's prompting. With Scavenger's assistance he'd gotten Sideswipe back on his feet soon enough, the vulnerability vanishing as Sideswipe came alive again.

Sideswipe was holding himself together admirably, and with time would recover his strength. But if anything happened to Rad…Blurr'd always known that Sideswipe's empathy with Rad ran deep. He hadn't understood it until recently but he'd accepted it. But now it seemed that that empathy would be working against him, reminding Sideswipe of what had been and what could have happened.

He didn't want Sideswipe agonizing over all of that. He wanted to protect Sideswipe as he had for that first month or so, but it wasn't Sideswipe who needed the protection he could offer. So he'd protect Rad to protect Sideswipe.

* * *

"I've never had scrambled eggs with croutons in them before," Shad commented absently.

"Eh," Rad shrugged, idly picking at his food.

"Bebeebeep," said Highwire.

"What'd he say?" Shad asked.

"We're out of bacon bits," Rad answered.

Carlos slid his plate to the side nonchalantly. "So, are we going to the base today?"

"I don't think Smokescreen's gonna leave without us," Rad replied, glancing toward the kitchen window.

Shad leaned over to get a better look through the window. He still couldn't see the Autobot. "How do you know he's still out there?"

"Rad's got x-ray vision," Carlos offered.

"Highwire told me he's out there," said Rad.

"I'll need to leave the Baileys a note so they don't call the cops," Shad said, thrusting his plate away.

Rad took an absent bite of his food. He blinked at the taste. "Did you use the garlic-lime croutons?" he asked Highwire.

"Beebebee," Highwire said with a nod.

"Hmm. Not bad," Rad commented, taking another bite.

* * *

The sun was midway across the sky now. It was past noon, maybe as late as one and he'd gotten more than enough sleep to function.

The plan he'd begun to form the night before had finished taking shape in his mind overnight. He'd need to stick to the commercial areas of the town while going about his preparations. He'd stand out too much in the residential neighborhoods. He needed to wash up as well. The stream he'd been drinking out of would do for that. He had a dress shirt and a pair of reading glasses that he'd lifted on his way out of prison. He'd considered throwing them away but now was glad he'd kept them.

If he worked fast he could have his hands on the boy be nightfall.

* * *

"Where's Alexis anyway?" Shad asked.

"Huh?" Rad asked blankly.

"Well, you all talk about this Alexis kid, but I haven't met her yet."

"Why do you want to meet her? Holding out for a sister-in-law?" Rad asked.

"I've come to terms with the fact that you're gay. But I was kind of wondering if this was some guys' exclusive club or something."

"Alexis's grandma is in town. She's been stuck visiting," Rad admitted. "Carlos was giving her updates while I was missing. Come to think of it, I probably should go see her and let her know I'm okay."

"She doesn't know you're back?"

"She knows, but knowing I'm back and seeing that I'm back are two different things."

Shad could understand that. "So, is she ever coming to visit?"

"Probably. Once her grandma goes home," said Rad.

* * *

Thank god she was out of there.

Alexis barely refrained from skipping down the sidewalk toward Murphy's Market. She loved her grandma dearly, but sometimes the woman could wear on her patience. Her Grandma Quade was a worrier, often rattling on for hours about something she'd heard on Oprah, like how milk caused breast cancer and how the American justice system was racist. Egads, if Alexis had to watch another episode of Dr. Phil she'd go nuts.

So when her grandma ran out of Quaker Rice Cakes, Alexis happily volunteered to go to the store to get some more. Nobody needed to know that she'd had Grindor bury the rice cakes in the backyard. Her grandma could wonder where the two bags she'd had disappeared to until something else came along to distract her.

Rounding the corner of the Fire House she almost walked straight into a bewildered looking man exiting the side door. The man glanced at her blankly, the expression oddly familiar. He was carrying two large duffel bags that hung from his broad shoulders. At first glance Alexis would categorize him as a gentle giant, his bearing seemingly harmless and the glasses giving him a bookish appearance.

Then he brushed passed her without a word and was gone.

Alexis stared at the door he'd just exited for a moment. Her mom was in the Ladies Auxiliary with the Fire Department and she knew all the firefighters by sight at least, if not by name. She'd never seen that man before.

She was sure she'd never seen that man before, but why did he look so familiar?

That question plagued her all the way to the store and back.

* * *

Shad was pretty sure he was getting use to the giant robots. The looming, however, was going to be a problem.

Seventeen feet above him was the curious face of Hot Shot, one of the Autobots he hadn't had a chance to meet yesterday. While he was pretty sure it wasn't Hot Shot's intention, the mech's curiosity reminded Shad of a three year old examining a particularly interesting bug before squishing it.

Rad was looking back and forth between them, gauging their reactions. He'd described Hot Shot as being the big brother 'Bot. As Rad and Carlos explained, Hot Shot had a special relationship with each of the kids. He was protective of them all, performing fantastic feats of daring to ensure their safety. There had been a story about a carnival, a canon, and a giant balloon that Shad had found a little over the top but both boys swore it was true. Carlos had started another story about being chased by someone named Cyclonus, but Rad'd quickly shushed him and changed the subject.

Rad moved closer to him as Hot Shot's gaze turned assessing. Shad could feel his brother's silent support and was kind of embarrassed that he felt grateful for it. Shad held his breath until Hot Shot's face broke into a grin. Apparently he'd passed inspection.

* * *

The house was empty and the guard dogs were gone.

He'd already stowed his equipment safely out of sight on the outskirts of town and then grabbed a briefcase from where it had been left unattended in the library. With the bible he'd borrowed from the Kingdom Hall tucked into the crook of his arm, his disguise was complete.

With his cover established he walked confidently up the front walk and knocked on the door. He waited a few seconds, giving his audience—an elderly woman across the street and some children skateboarding down the block—the impression he was waiting for an answer. When enough time had passed he reached out, being sure to keep his body between his hand and his audience, slid the key he'd swiped from the bottom of the mailbox into the lock and turned the handle. As the door swung open he put on a smile and introduced himself to the empty entrance hall. He spoke for several minutes, allowing pauses for the unsaid questions. He shook his head, as though declining an offer to step inside, but after a moment allowed himself to be convinced. After all, it was hot out and he didn't want to tax their A/C unit too much. It would drive up their electric bill which would already be high around this time of year.

Closing the door behind him, he surveyed the house his youngest now called home. It was upper middle class with a well furnished interior. The living room had a stylish furniture set and an expensive entertainment system. The dining room and kitchen held furniture that was both practical and fashionable. There was a half bathroom tucked in next to the kitchen.

On the kitchen table he found a helpful note in his oldest son's handwriting that provided the time they should get back from some unnamed friend's house. He left it where he found it.

The bedrooms were on the second floor. The first bedroom he came to was a master bedroom with a king size bed and a connecting bathroom. The second was a guest bedroom that hadn't been slept in, though there were a few clothes and travel items scattered around. The brats were doubling up again, he guessed.

The third clearly belonged to his youngest. It had a twin bed and was cluttered with clothes of varying sizes. There were other items that one would consider 'teen things'. A handheld gaming device lay on top of a fully stocked bookshelf. The books included modern titles like Harry Potter mixed in with some classics he'd read himself to pass the time in prison. As he fingered the spine of _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_, one of his favorites, he felt a strange tightness in his chest.

Ignoring it, he left the room and checked the next door. He found a bathroom with a built in towel closet. He smiled and got to work.

* * *

"So while Megatron was distracted, I decked him," Hot Shot boasted.

"While he was holding Rad, literally, in the palm of his hand?!" Shad demanded.

"Yup. Then, when Megatron fell, Rad went flying and I snatched him right out of the air," Hot Shot continued.

"There was a reason I didn't want him to hear this story," Rad grumbled.

* * *

This time Hot Shot drove them home. He and Shad had bonded over stories about Rad. Hot Shot told the unedited version of every crazy dangerous situation Rad had gotten into during his time with the Autobots and Shad told the stories about how they ran away from home and all the crazy things they'd gotten up to before Jason had tracked them down in Phoenix.

Rad was less than thrilled.

"It could be worse, man," Carlos placated.

"I doubt it," Rad shot back as Shad launched into a story about how they went swimming at Bethany in Delaware once while they were working their way down the coast. If Rad remembered correctly the waves had been so rough he'd lost his swim trunks after being knocked under. Luckily they reached their destination before Shad could get to the part about how Rad had mistaken a dolphin for a shark.

Rad, for all his insistence that Shad meet Hot Shot, had no problem hurrying them all back to the house and away from Hot Shot. He paused only to allow Shad to pull Highwire's bike mode from the trunk. After storing the indignant Minicon in the garage they hustled right past Mr. Bailey on the front walk where he was examining their mailbox.

"Boys," he called after them. "Did any of you take the spare key?"

"No Mike. I've always got mine with me," Rad called over his shoulder. To prove his point he dug it out of his back pocket and waved it at Mr. Bailey before unlocking the door and pushing it open.

"Well the spare's missing and it was here when I left this morning," Mike said, getting down on his hands and knees to examine the grass.

Both Rad and Shad experienced a brief flash of paranoia, but quickly wrote it off as unfounded. Jason wouldn't have been careless enough to leave any evidence of his comings and goings. If he wanted any chance of getting at Rad, it was by catching them off guard.

Even so, Shad preceded them both into the house, doing a quick visual search of the downstairs before heading for the stairs. "Stay here," he ordered.

Rad rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen with Carlos in tow.

Shad sighed but figured it was better than Rad insisting on checking the top floor with him. When the search turned up nothing he headed back downstairs just as Mr. Bailey was coming in the front.

"Nothing here that's not supposed to be," he told him.

"If I thought there was I wouldn't have let either of the boys anywhere near the house," Mr. Bailey replied.

"I take it you didn't find it."

"No."

"Crap."

"Yeah."

"Any chance one of the neighbor kids took it as a prank?" Shad asked.

"I doubt it," Mr. Bailey frowned. "I should've brought it in the moment I found out about the breakout."

"Probably," Shad didn't bother lying. If Jason had been here placations were pointless.

"Mike," Rad called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Rad?"

"You might wanna see this."

Mr. Bailey and Shad shared a look. "Coming," Mr. Bailey called.

On the kitchen table, resting on top of their note, was the spare key.

* * *

"You cleared the house, right?" Hannah Bailey demanded as she paced the living room floor.

"Twice already," Shad answered from the couch, where he'd propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"What does coming here accomplish? Letting us know he's been here? What does he gain from that?" she continued.

"He was probably getting a feel for the house," Rad spoke up from where he was curled up between his brother and Carlos. "So he has an idea where everything is."

"And leaving the key on the table? What was the point of that?"

"That most likely wasn't part of the original plan. He probably just left it there on impulse," said Shad.

"Oy, I've said it once, I'll say it again. Your father is a maniac," Hannah sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, we kinda picked up on that," said Shad.

"Shouldn't you call the police?" Carlos asked.

"They already think we're paranoid. It's all we can do to have them drive by a few times after dark, and that's more Tom's influence than ours," Mr. Bailey said with a sigh.

"Tom?"

"The detective in charge of Dad's case," Rad answered quietly. "He still calls to give us updates, like whether Dad's up for parole or something. He's the one who called to let us know Dad was out."

"And he's the only one who thinks Rad might be in danger. General consensus is that Dad's not going to bother with Rad because he was smart enough to keep all his death threats private."

"And it's not like I testified against him in a court of law or ratted him out to the cops," said Rad rolling his eyes. "Idiots."

"You did call Tom, right?" Hannah asked, turning to her husband.

"Yes. He said he'd get someone out here tomorrow to interview the neighbors, see if anyone saw anything, but there's nothing else he can do tonight."

"Alright, Mike you can walk Carlos home, right?"

"Can't I stay over again?" Carlos protested.

"Sorry Carlos, but if Jason's been in the house I can't let you stay. It's too dangerous," Hannah told him.

"But—"

"Not tonight Carlos."

Carlos threw a pleading look at Rad. Rad replied with a shake of his head.

"You can come back in the morning," Mr. Bailey offered.

"First thing?"

"First thing," Mr. Bailey agreed.

After Carlos and Mr. Bailey left, Hannah sent Rad and Shad up stairs to their room. She needed some solitude to relax and make dinner.

* * *

In their room, the brothers were pointedly avoiding talking to each other. Shad was reclining in a rolling chair, casually flipping through _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ while Rad half-heartedly fiddled with a handheld game. As Huck finished faking his death, Shad snapped the book closed. He'd only read every third sentence and blamed his lack of attention on the beeps and whistles coming from Rad's game.

"So…" Shad began. Rad didn't even bother looking up. Shad frowned, not knowing how to continue.

As the silence lengthened Shad turned his attention back to the bookshelf, still searching for something to say. He latched onto one of the titles as though it were a lifeline. "So, what's the deal with these Harry Potter books?"

Eyes still focused on his game, Rad answered. "They're good."

"Care to expand on that?" Shad asked.

"They're the cliché 'chosen one vs. ultimate evil, bound by fate and tragedy' kind of stories that were big in the old days."

"So they're cliché?"

"Yeah."

"Then how are they good?"

"They just are."

Shad stared at his brother. Okay, that was clear mud. "Who's your favorite character then?"

"Ron."

"Any particular reason?"

"He's not the hero or the brain."

Ah, Shad could put two and two together on that one. "So he reminds you of Carlos."

Rad glared down at his game. "He's real. He's a normal person with faults and flaws, he scares easy but you can trust him to have your back when you need him."

"Carlos," Shad repeated. Rad didn't answer. Rad was perfectly fine with his feelings for Carlos but he didn't want to psychoanalyze the reasons for those feelings.

"You know what it was that drew me to Tony?" Shad asked.

"No," Rad put down the game.

"Neither do I. And it really doesn't matter what it was, I'm just glad it did," Shad told him. "Who knows where I'd be now if it hadn't."

Rad looked thoughtful. "He's my best friend."

"And Tony's my best friend," Shad countered.

"I'm thirteen."

"You're smarter than I was at that age."

"So?"

"You're young, Rad. You really like him and he really likes you."

"And?"

"And, well… crap."

"Not as easy as you thought?"

"No."

"Don't worry. It's something I can figure out on my own."

"Good. But remember, nothing more than handholding."

Rad flashed him a small smile before going back to his game. The silence grew again, but their awkward conversation had done the trick of clearing the air somewhat. Not completely, but the talk about their father could wait a few more years.

They both came to attention at the same time. Sniffing the air, Shad pulled Rad to his feet. "Smoke," they said in unison. "Crap."

* * *

In the kitchen, Hannah was idly stirring a pot of soup when she heard the sirens. Sirens were unusual in High Desert, unlike in her hometown of Lansing where there were always sirens in the distance. In High Desert the most common were ambulance sirens, which she'd last heard two weeks ago when Shane O'Malley fell off the roof of his parents house and broke his back. Ambulance sirens were quick and high pitched, but quiet enough that you didn't usually hear them until they were right on you.

Fire sirens were different. They were more like a lingering wail that was often accompanied by a deep horn. They could be heard from a far enough distance that a fire truck would rarely catch you off guard. That's what she was hearing now.

She frowned. There hadn't been a fire in High Desert since last Halloween when a group of boys lost control of a bonfire in the woods. Luckily only two acres had burned. That, and Rad and Carlos had been in her living room all night watching horror films so she and the Lopezs didn't get fined for damages like some of the other neighborhood parents.

"Mrs. B!" Shad's yell accompanied a sudden rush of feet on the stairs, followed by breaking glass, the roar of flames, and then chaos.

Shad appeared in the kitchen, dragging Rad behind him, shouting at her to get out. Then he was dragging her toward the backdoor as the house rapidly filled with smoke. Rad was yelling about the garage and high wire and Shad was shouting back at him that high wire could take care of himself. Then he was dragging them around the front of the house where they were met by several firemen who were on them with questions in seconds. Was there anyone else still inside the house? Were there any highly flammable or toxic substances they needed to worry about?

One of the firemen took both her and Shad by the arm while another took Rad, who was practically bent double, coughing from the smoke.

"Get him out of here," the first fireman ordered.

The second nodded, dragging Rad off in the direction of one of the trucks, presumably to wait for the paramedics to arrive and check him out.

"Bathroom," Shad was saying. "It started in the bathroom. We smelled the smoke and got out. I don't what started it."

But he knew who. Jason. This had to be his doing somehow. She saw it on Shad face that he'd already figured it out. Had probably known the moment he smelled the smoke.

They heard the ambulance pull up and were led over by the fireman to be checked over. They were sat on the back the ambulance as the paramedics fussed over them.

"Hannah!" Mike yelled, pushing aside a paramedic as he dropped down to her side. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," she replied weakly.

"Where's Rad?" Carlos demanded, pushing through as well.

That's what she'd been wondering. That other fireman should have brought him over by now. In fact, she couldn't see him either.

"Oh, like hell," Shad growled furiously, surging to his feet. He threw off the blanket the EMTs had wrapped him in, tossed aside the paramedic standing in his way and was off shouting for his brother above din.

Hannah was more polite, handing off her blanket to the fallen EMT and stepping calmly over him. Then she plunged into the gathering crowd shouting for Rad with Mike and Carlos on her heels.

AN: R&R. I promise never to hold a chapter hostage for reviews, but on occasion they are appreciated… even if it's only to inform me of some glaring mistake and/or typo.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Some background. Mike Bailey works at Cosmo Scope Research Center doing work similar to what Rad's father did in the series. Hannah Bailey also works there in the IT department.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10

Humans, Highwire thought disparagingly, were rather idiotic as whole. Unfortunately, the White family seemed to be an exception to that rule, though Shadrach didn't use that intelligence often enough for it to be of any use. What was the elder White thinking, allowing Rad to be taken from him by a stranger whose face he couldn't see?

After extracting himself from the burning building, Highwire made it to the trees just seconds before Shadrach came storming out the rear exit dragging Mrs. Bailey and Rad along with him. Highwire had breathed a short lived proverbial sigh of relief that his charge was safe. His relief died a quick death when Rad was handed off to an emergency worker whose face was completely obscured by the human's variation of a battle mask. His last sight of Rad before the boy vanished behind one of the emergency vehicles was of Rad still coughing heavily.

Highwire had been on alert then, not liking how quickly the masked stranger had latched onto Rad. His main instinct was to reach Rad immediately, secrecy be damned, but he was struck by a moment of indecisiveness. It lasted only a moment, until he heard Shadrach's voice rising above the chaos, shouting Rad's name.

Indecisiveness gone, Highwire tore off west through the woods hoping Rad would have found some way to mark his path.

***

It didn't take Rad long to figure out just who was under that breathing mask and visor. When his coughing had begun to subside enough for him to regain a sense of his surroundings he realized he was being led down in-between two houses about ten doors down from his own. His father was leading him toward the research center. The mountain it sat on was riddled with cave and hideaways, and was remote enough that they were unlikely to come across any would be rescuers after they passed the town limits.

Jason didn't even flinch when Rad's elbow impacted with his gut. The fireman's coat he still wore cushioned the blow. The brat was struggling, but he wasn't strong enough to break his hold on the boy's arm.

"Let go of me," Rad growled.

Jason scowled and threw Rad up against the wooden fence that separated the houses. He ripped off his helmet and face mask. "Don't talk to me like that, brat," he hissed.

Rad flinched but met Jason's stare head on. "My name is Bradley," he threw back.

"I don't care," Jason growled pinning Rad against the fence. "Now, we're going to go up that mountain to this nice little spot I've got all picked out. And you're going to be a good son and listen to your father, got it?"

Rad resisted the surprisingly strong urge to spit in Jason's face. "Go to hell."

"Close enough," Jason frowned. "And if you even think about screaming—"

"You'll snap my neck and be done with it," Rad finished for him.

"Good boy, now get moving," Jason ordered, releasing his grip on Rad's shoulders and stepping back.

Rad pushed away from the fence and turned in the direction of the mountain. In his pocket he felt Lazerbeak shift. The bird wasn't going to be any use to him if he couldn't get it out of his pocket without his father seeing. Using Lazerbeak as a taser would have to be a last resort. Luckily the little robot had other functions that would be just as useful at the moment.

Mentally visualizing Lazerbeak, he reached down under the guise of brushing the dust off his pants. He felt Lazerbeak through the fabric. His fingers quickly found the panel he was searching for. Rad tapped it three times in rapid succession.

The bird shuddered as the signal was activated.

Rad took his place in front of his father, and walked solemnly toward the mountain.

***

A frenzied search of the immediate area revealed no sign of Rad. While Hannah and Mike cornered a sheriff's deputy to report Rad's disappearance, Shad hung back. Grabbing Carlos's shoulder, he steered the younger boy out of the crowd of morbid onlookers and into old Mrs. Jones's deserted driveway.

"Do you have anyway of contacting Autobots?" Shad asked lowly.

Carlos shook his head. "Not without Sureshock, my Minicon. He's not here."

"What about Alexis?"

"Yeah, if Grindor's with her."

"Ok, how do we get in touch with her?" Shad demanded.

"Call?" Carlos suggested.

Shad sighed. "What's her phone number?" he clarified.

Carlos blinked back at him. "Rad knows it."

Shad froze, allowing his mind to finally catch up with his eyes. Carlos was trembling a little, barely noticeable, and his eyes seemed impossibly wide. "Ok kid, why don't you sit down," Shad told him, looking around for somewhere for Carlos to sit. There was a half flight of stairs leading up to Mrs. Jones's side door. Good enough, Shad decided as he settled Carlos on the middle step.

"Carlos, I need you take a deep breath and calm down, ok?" Shad said as soothingly as he could. Carlos nodded and complied. "Alright," Shad began after the trembling receded. "Do you know Alexis's phone number?"

Carlos nodded. "Two, four, eight, nine, two, five, oh, eight, eight, one," he rattled off quickly as Shad punched the numbers into his cell phone.

"Stay here," he ordered, bounding up the stairs hoping to find a signal for his phone. Standing on the railing he managed to find a weak but usable signal.

"Carlos!" The feminine yell startled Shad, but he managed to avoid falling off his precarious perch by wrapping an arm around a wooden support beam. Still clinging to the beam he looked over his shoulder to see a redhead tearing up the driveway, dragging a clunky electric scooter with her. "Carlos, what's going on?" she demanded, leaving the scooter standing on it's own without bothering to put down the kickstand.

So, this was Alexis and Grindor.

Shad leapt off the railing and landed with a heavy thump, startling Alexis. She stopped short in front of Carlos, fixing a glare on Shad that might have worried him if she were six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier.

"Who are you?" she demanded, reminding Shad of an angry kitten.

"Rad's brother, and you and your friend are…?" he let the sentence hang, nodding toward Grindor.

Alexis's eyes narrowed but before she could form a denial Carlos interrupted. "He knows, Alexis."

She frowned. "How—"

"There's no time. Rad's missing and we need to call the Autobots," said Carlos, recovering quickly. He stood shakily. "Grindor, can you get in touch with Red Alert? He's supposed to be on patrol in town tonight."

"Bebbeapbeap," the scooter replied.

"What have I missed?" Alexis asked.

"Rad's dad is in town. We think he grabbed him in the scramble after the house caught fire," Carlos replied quickly.

"Oh," said Alexis, seeming to understand.

"Beaeaep! Beapbeep beeap beap."

"That was quick," said Alexis.

"What was quick?" Shad demanded.

"Grindor says that Lazerbeak's distress signal is active. Red Alert and Highwire are already on their way to cut them off," Carlos translated, after taking a steadying breath.

"And if Dad sees them coming and decides to cut his losses?"

"Dad?" Alexis asked.

"He won't see Highwire coming, and with the fire Red Alert won't look too out of place," Carlos insisted. "Right, Alexis?"

Alexis didn't answer. She looked between Shad and the fire trucks with a thoughtful look. "What does your dad look like?"

****

Rad stumbled on some loose stones near the tree line.

"Watch it," Jason growled, hauling Rad back up by the scruff of his shirt. "I'm not carrying you if you break an ankle."

"There's a surprise," Rad muttered.

"What was that?" Jason demanded.

"Nothing, Dad," Rad replied. "How'd you set the fire anyway?"

"Does this look like twenty questions?"

"You're passing up a chance to brag about your accomplishments?"

"You're interested in my 'accomplishments'?" Jason threw back with a disbelieving snort.

"More curious than interested," Rad corrected.

"I planted a timed incendiary device in the towel closet while everyone was out today," Jason admitted. "A shame, it was a nice place... Never pegged you for a reader."

"It passes the time."

Jason frowned at his response. Moments passed as they continued walking.

"How'd Shadrach get here so fast?" Jason asked.

"He was already here when we found out you were out."

"Why?"

"I've been having a bad week."

Jason snorted. "No kidding."

Out of the corner of his eye Rad saw a blue blur streaking silently through the trees. "Not as bad as yours is going to be," he murmured.

***

"He reminded me of Rad. I didn't make the connection then, but now…" Alexis frowned. In her defense, the man she'd seen at the firehouse hadn't looked all that much like Rad. The coloring was right. Blonde hair, the same blue eyes, but the resemblance had ended there.

His expression though, how many times had she seen that same look on Rad's face? Both eyebrows raised in an attempt at wide eyed innocence, lips pressed together defiantly, daring her to question him.

"I should've seen this coming," Shad growled.

Carlos and Alexis shared a look. "Did you have any reason to think he'd try anything like this?" Alexis asked.

"Knowing my father as well as I do? Yeah. This is something he'd try," said Shad.

"Well, it's going to be alright now. Once Highwire and Red Alert catch up with them, Rad'll be fine," said Alexis.

Shad frowned. He didn't look reassured.

"They won't let anything happen to him," Alexis asserted. "They always look after us."

"Beapbeeap," Grindor spoke up.

"What did he say?" Shad asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Our ride's here?" Alexis repeated questioningly.

"Beap. Beaapbeap bea," said Grindor, nodding.

"Optimus wants us at the base. Hot Shot and Sideswipe are waiting for us on Maypole," Alexis translated.

Shad shook his head. "We can't leave. The Baileys are already going nuts, if we disappear too…"

He had a point, Alexis conceded.

"Beap beapbepbeap."

"What?!" Alexis asked, shocked.

"What'd he say?" Shad asked. He looked from Alexis's shocked expression to Grindor and back again.

It was Carlos who answered. "He said that we're supposed to bring the Baileys with us."

***

It wasn't spectacular or particularly impressive, but it worked.

Highwire, once close enough, tackled Jason from behind while shouting at Rad to run for the stream. Rad wasted no time in tearing off through the woods, eager to put as much distance between himself and his father as possible, while Highwire remained behind, holding the struggling man down.

Rad covered the four hundred yards to the stream in less than a minute. Years of playing in these woods gave him an edge in that he had no problems leaping fallen trees, ducking low branches, and skirting thick clumps of briars.

He skittered to a stop just before the stream, the leaves on the forest floor sliding under his feet. He looked about, unsure of what to do next. A revving motor drew his attention to the opposite shore where he spotted Red Alert coming through the woods. Upon reaching the water Red Alert forded the stream, pulled up alongside Rad, and threw a door open. "Hurry."

Once Rad was safely seated Red Alert took off, his tires kicking up mud and rocks in his wake.

***

With a painful jab of his elbow, Jason threw off his attacker. He rose to his feet and spun around in time to be thrown back to the ground by powerful push. He landed flat on his back, his head bouncing against the hard ground making his ears ring. Ignoring it, he threw himself back to his feet to stare down his attacker. His rage was only mildly tempered by his confusion.

Before him stood what looked like a blue robot. He briefly considered that it might be someone wearing a bizarre costume, but the thing's torso was too narrow. It's arms and legs were oddly placed, welded to the side of the torso in away impossible for a human.

The creature stared back at him, tilting it's head to the side. It beeped threateningly at him and before his eyes shifted into a bike before speeding off without the aid of a rider.

What the hell?

***

Hannah hadn't known what to think when Shad had come up to them while they were frantically trying to get in touch with Tom, the local police having already dismissed their fears that Rad had been abducted. When Shad insisted that they needed to leave, she nearly snapped at him. Only the look on his face, mirrored by Carlos and Alexis, stopped her. Whatever was going on, they knew something she didn't. Placing as much trust in them as they could given the circumstance, she and Mike followed them.

As they passed Carlos's house, he and Alexis broke away. "We need to get Sureshock," Carlos had said by way of explanation. "We'll catch a ride with Sideswipe. You go ahead with Hot Shot." Then he and Alexis had disappeared into his backyard. Shad had continued on, leading them south along August Street.

They turned left onto Maypole, finding two cars parked on the usually deserted street. As Shad approached the yellow sports car, the front passenger and back seat doors open on their own. Shad slid into the front seat and motioned them toward the back. Hannah got in first, and then scooted over to make room for Mike. Once they were both settled the door swung shut and the car shifted into gear and drove off.

She and Mike had shared a look, both wondering what was going on. First Shad's eerie calm in the face of Rad's abduction, followed by his and the children's strange behavior back at the house. Then their insistence that she and Mike come with them, no questions asked. The names, or codenames, they'd mentioned hadn't escaped her notice either. Thinking back to what Rad had been saying as they fled the house, she realized that 'high wire' was probably someone's name as well. And now there was some pretty advanced technology in the form of one—or more likely two considering the other car still waiting on Maypole—remotely driven cars.

What did this mean when it was all added together? There was clearly more going on than she and Mike had realized. Was Rad involved in something? He'd come home with cuts and bruises a time or two that he'd refused to explain. Mike had written it off as Rad being an accident prone pubescent while she'd suspected bullying. There was that time a few months ago when Rad had come home past curfew and hid in his room for the rest of the night. Since he'd clearly been upset, they'd left him alone for the night deciding that it would be better to talk to him after he'd had a full night's sleep. But the following morning he'd seemed fine and refused to talk about it. Now she beginning to wish they'd pushed the issue more.

"Any word from the others?" Shad asked, seeming to address to the car's dashboard.

"Red Alert's checked in. He's got Rad and is en route to the base," the dashboard responded.

A radio or some other communications device must be built into the car, Hannah thought to herself.

"What's Rad's condition?" Shad asked.

"Good. No injuries that Red Alert can detect," was the response. "He'll do a more thorough exam at the base."

Shad nodded, though Hannah didn't see any cameras that would allow the man on the other end of the radio to see what was going on in the car. Then again, she didn't see anything that could be a communications device either.

She looked to Mike to see what he thought of all of this. His eyes were darting about the car's interior, clearly working something out in his head. What that was, she had no idea.

***

This was insanity, Mike Bailey thought. Clearly he'd been watching too much sci-fi. There had to be some logical explanation for what was going on that didn't involve what his stressed mind was coming up with.

Still, on some level there was a tiny bit of credibility to that train of thought. The unexplained tremors, the strange readings they'd been picking up from the valley, the unidentified objects they'd seen on radar. It was enough to start the conspiracy theorist at the lab abuzz, spouting anything from military experiments to alien invasion.

Then there were the hallucinations a few months back, during the carnival. Some children claimed to have seen advanced robots that transformed into tiny cars. Nobody paid much attention to it since they were only children, though nobody could account for the robots that had been seen marching in the parade— the robotics lab claimed ignorance as to their origins. Then two of his co-workers had backed up the children's claims, but both were now seeking psychiatric help so their reliability was somewhat in question as well. There'd been damage to a giant balloon and a ball cannon that the local authorities had blamed on vandalism. Three local boys had claimed differently, saying a giant, yellow robot had done it. Two of those boys, Billy and Fred, were friends with Rad.

Finally, there was that night not so long ago when he'd overheard Rad talking to someone in the garage. Thinking Carlos had snuck over again, he'd gone to the door to shoo Carlos off since it had been almost ten in the evening. Peering through the partially closed garage door, he'd seen only Rad in the garage. Rad had been sprawled out on his back, staring at the ceiling, talking to his bike. The bike that had mysteriously appeared one day shortly after the earthquake that had marked the beginning of the weirdness. Rad had claimed that he'd bought it second hand from a friend. Mike had stood there for awhile listening as Rad spoke to the bike like it was his trusted confidant. Rad had spoke of his excitement about Shad and Tony's planned visit to High Desert in the fall, of how Alexis was dreading her grandmother's yearly stay, and very briefly of his crush on Carlos. Rad'd even addressed the bike by name. 'Highwire' he'd called it. He went on to discuss their plans for the following day, when they'd meet up with the others at 'the base'.

Mike had assumed that Rad was speaking of a playfort or something. Maybe he and his friends had built a tree house somewhere that they'd christened 'the base'. Now he wasn't so sure about that.

His mind was reassessing all of these events, coming up with a multitude of theories. Each was discarded almost immediately, being too insane.

Because his mind was telling him that this car wasn't being remotely controlled, and whoever Shad was talking to wasn't on the other end of a radio.

***

He'd run the half-mile from where he lost the boy back to his hideout. Quickly, he pulled off the heavy overcoat and pants. Jason only took a moment to appreciate the cool air of the cave against his sweat soaked skin. He gathered the up his meager supplies and slipped out.

Bradley couldn't know for sure where his hideout was, but he knew enough to point searchers in the right direction. And Jason wouldn't put it past his son's new friends to be able to find him here if he stayed. They'd tracked down Bradley quick enough, finding him might be just as easy for them. His fallback hideout wasn't ideal, but it would have to do.

With all of his supplies in a sack, he hurried from the cave and began to climb.

***

The journey to the base was uneventful. The Baileys sat quietly in the back, clutching each other's hand. Shad sat in the front, as calmly as he could given the current circumstances. Other than that apparently the Baileys were about to be let in on the Autobots' secret and the fact that he hadn't confirmed with his own eyes that Rad was unharmed, he had no reason to be tense.

"We're almost there," Hot Shot announced.

Shad sighed. That was his cue. He maneuvered himself around so that he could face the Baileys and took a breath. "Whatever you see, don't freak. We're perfectly safe with them."

"Them?" Hannah questioned as they turned the final bend. Then she gasped.

"Good lord," Mike Bailey breathed.

AN: R&R. About the Baileys. Hannah is sort of what I picture Alexis being like when she grows up. Logical and reason driven. If it can't be proven, it doesn't exist. Mike is more like Rad. He acknowledges the logic in certain things but it doesn't blind him from all the possibilities.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11

Optimus watched Hot Shot's approach with wary optics. This wasn't a decision he'd made lightly, bringing Rad's guardians into this, but there was little choice now. Rad would be safer at the base than at the Baileys' home in town. While under other circumstances he would simply order Rad confined to the base and think up the appropriate cover stories later, but with Shad's involvement that was no longer an option. Optimus doubted that Shadrach would allow the Baileys to remain out of the loop.

And, if he was being completely honest with himself, he wasn't sure how much longer they could keep their presence here a secret from the humans. The conflict was just heating up with no end in view. They had been lucky so far, with only a few near misses. He knew their luck couldn't hold out indefinitely. Eventually they would have to inform the human government of their presence.

Hot Shot pulled to a stop and swung open his doors. Mike Bailey hesitantly climbed out, followed by his wife. Neither spoke, staring at him with a mixture of shock and fear.

"Greetings," he spoke, attempting to put them at ease.

"Shadrach?" Mrs. Bailey called, her voice wavering.

"It's alright Mrs. B, he's friendly," Shad assured her as he came to stand next to them.

"I believe we have some things to discuss," Optimus continued.

"After we see Rad," said Shad.

Optimus nodded. "Come along."

* * *

This damn well sucked.

Jason White's gaze swept over his new hideout. It was small, clean, and easily accessible. Chances were that some local kids used it as a hideout themselves from time to time. But the sun was high in the sky right now and he was low on water. Come tonight he could find his way to a more favorable spot, but this would have to do for now.

He lay back against the cave wall and thought.

Bradley had made some pretty interesting friends. He didn't know what to make of the bike, and really didn't care much about it. But those cars… They'd been too high end to be on a covert observation job. Nobody with half a brain would drive a yellow viper around on an undercover job, at least not in suburbia.

Now, with this bike. A transforming robot that could turn into a bike at will. If those cars were anything like the bike, on a larger scale…

Jason White frowned. Things just got a little bit harder.

* * *

"I told you, I'm fine," Rad sighed, rather annoyed to be lying flat on the metal examination table. Upon their arrival at the base Red Alert had wasted no time sweeping him into infirmary, with Highwire following close behind.

"My scans beg to differ, Rad," said Red Alert. "There's been some damage to your lungs, probably caused by the smoke you inhaled at the scene."

"It can't be too bad," Rad protested. "I'm still breathing fine on my own."

Red Alert looked closely at the scanner read outs. "Your lungs show signs of extreme irritation, and some of your airways are still inflamed. Were Shadrach and your foster mother as affected by the smoke?"

"I have a mild form asthma. Smoke irritates it," said Rad, ignoring the urge to cough. He didn't even need an inhaler, damned if he was going to let Red Alert make a big deal about this.

"You've never mentioned having asthma before," Red Alert frowned. "It can be a dangerous disease."

"Like I said, my asthma's very mild," said Rad. "I usually forget I have it." Unless it's allergy season, but Red Alert didn't need to know that.

"Beepbebebep!" Highwire scolded.

"Thank you, Highwire," said Red Alert. "Are there any other medical conditions that Rad isn't telling me about?"

Luckily the doors slid open, stopping Highwire from revealing everything from Rad's appendectomy two years ago to the stubbed toe he suffered this morning.

"Rad?"

Rad sat up at the sound of his brother's voice. "Shad?"

"Ahem," Red Alert coughed.

Rad sighed and flopped back down.

"Rad!"

"Miss Hannah!" Rad sat up again and stared at his foster parents in disbelief.

"Rad, you need to remain flat until I'm finished with my scans," Red Alert scolded, gently nudging Rad back.

"Umm, why are they here?" Rad asked, complying with Red Alert's orders.

"I thought it was best," Optimus announced from the doorway, followed by Hot Shot and Jetfire.

"Optimus," Rad groaned accusingly.

"Is there any particular reason you didn't want us to know about this?" Hannah Bailey asked, her voice taking on a slightly hysterical tinge. She could deal with a lot. Her foster son vanishing off the face of the planet for two days? Sure, she could handle that. Said foster son's deranged father breaking out of prison and targeting him for a decidedly gruesome revenge? Nothing to it really. That deranged father burning down her house and kidnapping her foster son was pushing it just a little. But throw in some giant, possibly extraterrestrial, robotic organisms? …well, that was definitely too much.

"A few," Rad admitted.

"Just as I have a few reasons for why they need to be informed," said Optimus.

"Just don't let them talk to Hot Shot," Rad demanded.

"You haven't given him anything, have you?" Shad asked, concerned by the non sequitur.

"No, but if you happen to be carrying the appropriate medication to treat the asthma he's failed to mention in the entire time we've known him, I would be more than happy to administer it."

"Mild asthma," Rad repeated.

"You had an asthma attack?" Mike asked, stepping forward.

"I was just coughing a lot after we got out of the house," Rad protested.

"That's an asthma attack, Rad," Mike sighed.

"You can sit up now," said Red Alert, turning off the scanner.

"Thank you." Rad sat up a crawled to the edge of the examination table. "Uh, hi," he greeted his foster parents.

"I think you have a little explaining to do, Bradley," said Hannah, after regaining some of her composure.

"Uh, what part needs explaining?" Rad asked.

"Everything," said Hannah.

"Well that's kind of a long story," Rad admitted.

"Start at the beginning," Hannah recommended flatly.

"Ok, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away—"

"Actually our planet is in this galaxy, and less than thirty parsecs from Earth," Red Alert corrected.

"Their planet? They're really aliens?" Hannah asked.

"We are the Autobots. We come from a relatively close solar system, roughly twenty-eight parsecs away."

"Well in that case we're practically next door neighbors," Hannah scoffed.

"Yeah, anyway, they're kind of at war over the Minicons, and now the Minicons are on Earth, so here they are," Rad explained.

"Minicons?" Mike asked.

"Like Highwire," Rad admitted, pointing towards his Minicon.

"Is that your bike?" Hannah asked.

"Uh, yeah," Rad admitted.

"You've kept an alien robot living in our garage and failed to mention it?" Hannah demanded.

"Well, telling you he was there kinda defeated the purpose of hiding him," said Rad.

"Bradley."

"Sorry, Miss Hannah."

"Anyway," Optimus interrupted.

"Yes, you said you had reason for bringing us here," Mike said.

"Under the current circumstances I think it best that Rad remain here until his father is apprehended," said Optimus.

"No," Rad protested.

"It's safer here," Optimus argued.

"There are plenty of safe places, Optimus."

"Not really," Shad put in. "Like you said, Dad'll track us down wherever we go."

"Isn't it going to look a little weird if you all go back to town without me?" Rad asked.

"They could stay here," said Hot Shot.

"Uh-huh. And nobody'll care that we all disappeared right after the house burned down?" Rad asked, skepticism clear.

"We could call the fire investigators or whoever and let them know we're staying with some friends outside of town. As long as we let them know how to reach us and answer any questions they have, I don't see why anyone would care where we are," said Mike Bailey.

"We have no objection to your foster parent staying here until your father is caught," said Optimus.

"Don't you guys have a war to be fighting? Seriously, having at least four of us under foot twenty-four/seven will get old pretty quick," Rad pointed out.

"Four?" Red Alert asked.

"Hey, I was staying at the Baileys' place too," said Shad. "And I'm not going back to Vegas until this thing is over with."

"We have three of you running all over the place daily and we haven't flipped yet. Four can't be that much worse," quipped Jetfire.

"We average a few hours a day here, then we go home. There's a big difference between that, and us living here."

"I'm sure we can manage for a short time," said Optimus. "Besides, we haven't had a Minicon activation in weeks—" Optimus was cut off as the Minicon alarm blared to life.

"Ironic timing," Jetfire noted.

"Shut up, Jetfire," Optimus ordered.

"Sure thing boss."

Optimus sighed. "We will continue this conversation when we get back," he promised.

Turning from the humans, he called, "Jetfire, Scavenger, Blurr, and Hot Shot, with me. Everyone else consider yourselves on standby in case we need back up."

"What, I have to stay here?" Sunstreaker protested over the comm.

"Eh, what the hell Ops, we can always use him as cannon fodder if worse comes to worse," said Jetfire merrily.

"We have guests, Jetfire," Optimus reprimanded.

"They wouldn't have me any other way, would ya kids?"

"You mean as a responsible, serious professional?" Rad asked.

"Yeah, something boring liked that," Jetfire agreed

"It'd be nice."

"Oh that hurt."

* * *

Sideswipe peered down at the humans. He knew about Rad's foster parents intellectually. He'd even observed them from a distance on occasion. But he'd never gotten a chance to meet them. The way Rad described, they had saved him, taken him in, proved Rad's fears about the foster system wrong. These were the people Sideswipe had to thank for his friend's sanity.

Sideswipe had no idea how to thank them for everything they had done.

Blurr had been the one to save him. Blurr and Scavenger. After that disastrous mission where he found himself alone with nowhere left to run from his demons, they'd taken him in. They hadn't been thrilled at the prospect, but he'd been in trouble and they refused to abandon him simply because he was an inconvenience. Blurr had kept him on an even keel and Scavenger had refused to treat him with kid gloves. Whether they knew that they'd been helping him put himself back together or not, Sideswipe didn't know. Maybe one day he'd tell them.

In the meantime, he had a pair of humans to look after while they were settling in.

"This way," Sideswipe announced, leading Mr. and Mrs. Bailey to the room they would be staying in.

* * *

The sun was going down.

Jason watched it sink from the mouth of the cave. His pack was on the ground by his feet, ready to go as soon as the last of the light faded from the sky. His first order of business was to find a stream to replenish his water supply. Then he'd find himself some more suitable accommodations. Preferably in a less traveled area. He had a few spots in mind, but would have to decide based on the availability of supplies.

As for how he was going to get a hold of the boy… that was another matter. Those machines, if that's what they were, were acting as guard dogs. Finding out where they were planning to stash the boy was another thing. The foster parents' house was out. Bradley seemed to have a few friends in town. He'd have to check in on that Hispanic boy. Maybe Bradley would be bunking with him.

Worst case scenario would be for them to take the kid out of state. Jason doubted they would. He'd tracked both his sons from the northeastern coast to Phoenix, Arizona. Tracking Bradley wherever they took him wouldn't be a problem for him and Shadrach knew it. His oldest would have no qualms about sharing that information with Bradley's guard dogs.

Worse come to worse, Jason would just have to wait them out. Bradley would chafe under restrictions, even those put in place for his own protection. In the end the boy would show himself, maybe even seek his father out himself.

AN: R&R


End file.
